A division of the DOL, the Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) ensures that workers around the world are treated fairly and are able to share in the benefits of the global economy. ILAB’s mission is to use all available international channels to improve working conditions, raise living standards, protect workers’ ability to exercise their rights, and address the workplace exploitation of children and other vulnerable populations.

As is the case with most government bureaucracies of this magnitude, the mission requires generous funding by American taxpayers. In its congressional budget justification for fiscal year 2012, the DOL asks for more than $1.5 billion to fund its various causes abroad. This includes $40 million to combat exploitative child labor internationally, more than $18 million for “program evaluation” and nearly $14 million to implement worker rights programs through technical assistance.

Just last week ILAB doled out $10 million to combat child labor in Ethiopia, specifically in rural areas of the African country and in the traditional weaving industry. Some of the money will likely be handled by Ethiopia’s notoriously corrupt government, which this week was exposed for illicit financial flows totaling $3.26 billion. Corruption, kickbacks and bribery are on the rise in Ethiopia, according to a new report issued this week by a research group that aims to curtail the cross border flow of illegal money.

Never the less, U.S. tax dollars will help “reintegrate” Ethiopian children into education systems and will link “vulnerable families” to income-generating opportunities, according to the DOL announcement. The cash will also “raise awareness” and train labor inspectors, presumably Ethiopian, on child labor laws and health standards.

Surely some of the African-bound millions could be used here in the homeland. Unemployment remains high even though the jobless rate fell slightly from 9% in October to 8.6% in November. A major reason is that many people just gave up the job hunt and dropped out of the workforce.

The senseless allocation comes after a series of equally questionable moves by the Department of Labor (DOL) on behalf of illegal immigrants, juvenile delinquents and “high-risk” adults. Last year the agency launched a nationwide initiative to protect illegal immigrant workers in the U.S. and a few months ago it entered formal agreements with Guatemala and Nicaragua vowing to preserve the rights of their migrants.

In two separate allocations this year, the agency dedicated more than $90 million to help low-income juvenile delinquents find jobs and “underserved young adults” join the workforce. Though a chunk of the money went to leftwing nonprofits that will assist individuals in “high-poverty, high-crime communities,” at least the recipients live in the U.S. The idea is to help entire families and communities, according to Obama Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, the former California congresswoman with close ties to the influential open borders movement.

But how do you justify dedicating taxpayer dollars to labor issues in a country located several time zones away when unemployment is at 9.1% in the U.S.? The DOL says the money will extend an existing program, called Vietnam Industrial Relations Promotion Project, by an additional two years which likely isn’t a priority for most Americans. The first phase of the project was also funded by Uncle Sam, though the cash went through a different government entity, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

It’s a worthy investment, according to the DOL, because it’s designed to improve Vietnam’s labor relations policies and initiatives by strengthening labor law enforcement and labor inspection and increasing the capacity for a more effective dispute resolution system for workers and employers. Here is the kicker; it will also improve “worker organizations’ (can you say unions?) ability to represent employees and engage in collective bargaining and other methods of dispute resolution.”

Solis says “experience shows” that it’s important for the U.S. to forge these sorts of partnerships between countries to “promote sound industrial relations policies and programs worldwide.”