The Labor Department is planning to hire hundreds of new employees to enforce federal worker protection standards, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The staffing bump will include 150 new investigators for the Wage and Hour Division, the agency responsible for investigating employers who employ children, fail to pay proper wages, and violate other fair labor laws; 100 staffers to monitor contracts paid for by economic stimulus funds; and “75 staffers to conduct nearly 600 more criminal and civil investigations” at the Employee Benefits Security Administration, according to the Journal.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is also planning to take a closer look at serious violators, Journal reporter Melanie Trottman says. “OSHA will conduct an intensive examination of an employer's inspection history and any systematic problems would trigger additional, mandatory inspections.”

The article does not mention whether OSHA will also beef up its inspectorate, but President Obama’s FY 2010 budget request calls for 240 new employees at OSHA.

OSHA’s ranks have thinned over the years. In 1980, OSHA had almost 3,000 employees. Now, the agency employs fewer than 2,200.

The Wage and Hour Division (WHD) hasn’t fared much better. The Bush administration targeted WHD and its parent agency, the Employment Standards Administration (ESA), with budget and staffing cuts. From 2001 to 2008, ESA had a net loss of about 500 employees – a 13 percent drop in its overall staffing level.

A March Government Accountability Office report found that WHD did not adequately record employee complaints or follow through with employer reprimands. GAO investigators posed as employees and called WHD to file complaints. The report includes this gem: “When our fictitious employee asked why WHD could not offer more help, the WHD investigator said she was ‘bound by the laws I’m able to enforce, the money the Congress gives us’ and told our fictitious employee to contact his Congressman to request more resources for WHD.”

The proposed staffing increases signal a renewed commitment to worker safety and worker rights after 8 years of the Bush administration's overly permissive attitude. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis hopes to rectify that, telling the Journal she wants to “level the playing field.”