TOPIC 14: CHILD LABOR

Learning Objectives: By the end of this lecture, students will be expected

to:

1. Explain the Concept of Child Labor.

2. Discuss the causes of child labor
3. Assess the determinants of child labor.

Introduction:

Child labor is fundamentally a reflection of poverty and weak economic and

social institutions. There is strong negative association between poverty and
the incidence of child labor. Child labor is almost unheard of in the developed
countries. The term “child labor” is often used to cover a multitude of
situations: from bonded labor to part-time work on the family farm. It is
useful to clarify who classifies as a “child” and what activities count as
“labor”. Neither of these turns out to be simple.

The International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Convention No. 138 specifies

15 years of age as the age at which a person, under normal circumstances,
may participate in economic activities. Most studies therefore define children
as individuals of less than 15 years of age. It is presumed that children of
less than 5 years are unable to work productively and so statistics often
show child labour for 5-14 year olds. However, in some cases individuals
under the age of 18 years also count as children and the ILO sets more
specific thresholds for some types of work e.g. light work from the age of 12
years is permissible in a developing country context (IPEC 2006).

Child labor refers to children who are engaged in an economic activity and
who are below the minimum legal age of employment in a given country.
Depending on the country, young people aged 12-15 and over may be
employed in certain “light work” if it is not hazardous or harmful to their
health and does not affect their attendance and performance at school.

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Article 3 of the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention No. 182
defines the worst forms of child labor as:

a) All forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and
trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory
labor, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in
armed conflict;
b) The use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production
of pornography or for pornographic performances;
c) The use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for
the production and trafficking of drugs;
d) Work which by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out is
likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) and in particular the
International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC) are the main
international bodies for dealing with child labor. The ILO produces estimate
of child labor for different countries under their program called Statistical
Information and Monitoring Program on Child Labour “. The ILO defines any
individual between ages 5 to 17 years as child. It distinguishes among three
terms: (i) economically active children; (ii) child labor; and (iii) children in
hazardous work.
1. Economically active children:

A child is economically active if he/she has worked for at least one hour on
any day in a seven-day reference period. What working or economically
active means? Economic activity” is a broad concept that includes productive
activities undertaken by children: at home or outside, whether for market or
not, paid or unpaid, casual or regular, part-time or full time, legal or illegal.
However, it does not include household chores or domestic work undertaken
by children. Thus, activities such as cooking, sweeping, fetching water,
looking after siblings etc. are not counted as economic activity.

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 2. Child Labor:
Child labor is a subset of economically active children. ILO defines child labor
as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their
dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development. Child labor
consists of all economically active children excluding all those children aged
12 years and older who are working only few hours a week in permitted light
work and those aged 15 years and above whose work is not classified as
“hazardous”.
According to this definition all economically active children in age group 5-12
are counted as child labor. However, economically active children in age
group 12-14 are counted as child labor only when they work more than a
specified minimum number of hours in the reference week. Finally,
economically active children in the age group 15-17 are counted as child
labor only when they are engaged in hazardous activities.
3. Hazardous Work:

Hazardous work by children is any activity which adversely affects child’s

safety, health (physical and mental), and moral development. Hazards can
derive from excessive workload, unsafe work environment, or exploitative
relationship. For examples of hazardous activities please see ILO (2002).
Hazardous activities do not include bonded labor, child trafficking, soldiering
etc. They are considered to be unconditional worst forms of child labor.

 Working children and domestic work:

The UNICEF survey defines children as any individual in age group 5-14. A
child is classified as working if he/she has been engaged in domestic or
market work for at least an hour in the reference week.

 Gender differentials in child labor:

There is also substantial gender differential in the incidence and nature of

working children. It also shows that girls are more likely to work longer hours
than boys. The analysis shows that if we just include market work in the

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definition of child labor, we will seriously underestimate the time spent by
girls working. A great deal of evidence suggests that the types of work
economically active girls and boys are engaged can be quite different even
within a sector.
 Child Labor and Schooling:
The issue of relationship between child labor and acquisition of human
capital and more particularly participation in schooling has received a great
deal of attention. The main focus has been on whether child labor adversely
affects school attendance of children their scholastic performance and the
acquisition of (formal) human capital. The human capital acquisition of
children depends not only on school attendance, but also on time devoted on
studying in school and outside. A child who works for long hours may not be
able to devote sufficient time and attention to studying.

Working children 5-14 who did not attend school on average worked for 11.6
hours per week. On the other hand, working children who attended school on
average worked for 10.7 hours. This difference is much larger for working
children 10-14. The working children 10-14 who did not attend school on
average worked for 23.7 hours in a week compared to 14.1 hours for working
children who attended school. Thus, data suggests that child labor may
adversely affect the (formal) human capital acquisition by children.

Determinants of Child Labor:

Economic literature has identified a large number of determinants of child
labor. Basu (1999) and Edmonds (2007) provide a comprehensive summery
of this literature:
1. Low income and poverty:
Many explanations of child labor are based on the prevalence of poverty and
suggest that increased income may reduce the existence of child labor.
There are four ways improvements in family incomes can potentially affect
child labor:

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  Firstly, child labor may be a bad in the family’s welfare function, so as
incomes improve, parents will choose to have their children work less.
 Secondly, with diminishing marginal utility of income, the value of the
marginal contribution made by the child will fall. This will induce
parents to choose less amount of child labor.
 Thirdly, higher family incomes may facilitate the purchase of
substitutes to child labor e.g. agricultural machinery, which would
lower the return to child labor within the household.
 Fourthly, children’s productivity in schooling may increase if increased
income allows the purchase of more and better quality educational
materials.
2. Access to Credit:
Children may be sent to work, because their family needs their contribution
of income. If parents would prefer their children did not work, but cannot
manage this in their economic environment, then credit may greatly affect
children’s outcomes. This situation could arise for many reasons. A family’s
permanent income may be too low, so they may have few assets to borrow
against.
Alternatively, there may be a lack of institutions that allow families to
borrow. One situation where access to credit could be particularly useful is
when there is a temporary shortfall in income, e.g. due to crop failure or the
household head being made unemployed.
3. Return on Human Capital and Schooling:
If one takes a simple cost-benefit approach to a parent’s decision over their
children’s time allocation, then assuming a school of the right grade exists
and education and work are the two possible uses of a children’s time, then
the decision can be simply described as follows. Attending school imposes
direct costs on the family, for example, transportation costs to get to school
and the purchase of educational materials.
These direct costs will depend largely upon how close the nearest school is
and the infrastructure or transport available. There are also indirect costs of

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schooling through the child’s foregone wage income or use by the family.
The indirect costs could depend upon a number of factors. For example they
can depend on: the child’s ability; the job opportunities available to them in
the market; or their use on the family farm which could depend upon land
size and crop seasonality amongst other things.
The benefits on the other hand can be seen as the return to schooling. This
can differ according to:
 The level of education undertaken.
 The quality of the school or the teachers.
 What is taught.
 The impact on job opportunities or marriage opportunities as a result.
In summary, there are a wide number of factors that are likely to be
important. In particular children are more likely to work if there is not a
school nearby, or the wage differential for educated compared to less well
educated children is low. If the return to schooling is very low then there will
be very little incentive to send children to school.
4. International Trade:
International trade can also affect the incidence of child labor. One common
argument is that opening of trade (or globalization) increases the demand for
goods and services produced by child labor. Thus, opening of trade is likely
to increase the incidence of child labor. This argument underlies the demand
for ban on trade or consumer boycott of goods produced by child labor.
Consumers who do not wish to consume goods produced by child labor can
do so by buying ``child labor free goods. The counter argument is that
opening of trade increases income, which reduces supply of child labor.
5. Social Norms:
Social norms may underlie many of these factors and so the effects of
particular features will differ across countries and even across regions of the
same country. In some areas there may be a stigma attached to having
children work. This stigma can reduce the parent’s utility when their child
works.

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However, the loss of utility will be smaller if many other children work, since
the stigma cost is lower. This can yield the result that if all parents send their
child to work then it is worth-while for each parent to send their child to
work; and if no one sends their child to work each parent may not find it
worth-while to send their child to work, as the stigma cost is so high.
Importantly, there are a number of gender issues which can come into play.
Traditional gender roles may, for example, make it more likely that girls will
be depended upon for undertaking domestic chores or providing childcare for
younger siblings. If there is gender discrimination in the labor market, so
earnings for females are lower, then this can have two affects:
 It reduces the opportunity cost of schooling a girl now.
 It also reduces the return to their education.
The balance of these effects will depend upon the degree of discrimination in
wages for children and adults. Cultural practices over marriage may be
significant too. If a girl joins her husband’s family upon marriage then her
own parents may find little return to their investment in her education.
6. High fertility and mortality rates:
High fertility and mortality of children can also lead to higher incidence of
child labor. This is particularly true in countries where parents rely on their
children to support them when they are old. High mortality rate among
children may induce parents to have large number of children in order to
ensure that children survive until adulthood to support them in old age. The
large number of children born can stretch a family’s resources further and so
make it more likely some of the children will need to work.
7. Labor market imperfections:
Labor market imperfections such as oligospony or monopsony in the labor
market which reduces wage earnings can also increase child labor due to
two reasons;
 Firstly, low wage earnings reduce family income.
 Secondly, it reduces the return from schooling.

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Both of them will lead to higher child labor. Labor market imperfections can
also lead to gender differentials in child labor. It has been observed that
there is gender bias in labor market against women. They earn less than
male workers for similar work. Also, employment opportunities outside home
for women in many developing countries are quite limited. Such biases may
lead to girl children working longer hours, particularly in domestic work.
Reasons for Child Labor:
Child labor can stem from one or more factors, including:
 Extreme poverty and the need for all members of a family to
contribute economically to its survival.
 Limited access to educational programs, for example, lack of school
facilities in rural areas.
 Lack of legal documentation which keeps them from enrolling in school
and receiving other state-social services.
 Poorly funded, trained, and equipped education systems and teaching
staff.
 Cultural and/or traditional practices in certain geographical locations or
among certain peoples, for example, migrant workers, nomadic and
indigenous populations, and lower castes.
 Employment practices whereby businesses and factories employ
children because they can pay them less than adults and because
children are young, defenseless, and docile and may be bullied into
doing work they should not be doing or into working long hours.
 Vulnerable children being coerced into illegal activities, such as drug
smuggling.
 Trafficking or criminal practices, such as commercial sexual
exploitation.
 Discriminatory practices in society and in education, for example
against girls or certain population groups, such as indigenous peoples.

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  Lack of acknowledgement of the problem of child labor by some
governments, other socio-economic and political actors, and even the
public at large, and a failure to deal with the issue as a priority.
 Lack of social protection programs through which poor and vulnerable
families could access government and local authority support,
particularly in times of difficulty.
 The death of parents or guardians from HIV/AIDS, creating a new
generation of child-headed households.
 Armed conflict, with children forced to take up arms or provide other
forms of military support.
 The absence of an organized workforce in informal economic sectors
where child labor is prevalent, reinforcing the employment of children
to the detriment of adult employment and the continued erosion of
working conditions and basic rights.
 Any combination of the above or other phenomena that either
encourage or oblige children to leave their childhoods, education, and
family behind and enter the labor market.
The consequences of child labor for children:
1. Because children differ from adults in their physiological and
psychological make-up, they are more susceptible to and more
adversely affected by specific work hazards than adults. Not yet
matured mentally, they are less aware of the potential risks involved in
the workplace. The effects of hazardous working conditions on
children’s health and development can be devastating. The impact of
physically strenuous work, such as carrying heavy loads or being
forced to adopt unnatural positions at work, can permanently distort or
disable growing bodies. There is evidence that children are more
vulnerable than adults to chemical hazards and that they have much
less resistance to disease.

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 2. The hazards and risks to health may also be compounded by the lack
of access to health facilities and education, poor housing and
sanitation, and inadequate diet.
3. Children are much more vulnerable than adults to physical, sexual, and
emotional abuse and suffer worse psychological damage from being
denigrated, humiliated, or oppressed and from working in
environments that are exploitative, dangerous, and isolating.
4. Children who suffer ill-treatment, abuse, and neglect at the hands of
their employers may, as a consequence, find it very difficult to form
attachments with and have feelings for others. They may have
problems interacting and cooperating with others and attaining a real
sense of identity and belonging. They often lack confidence and have
low self-esteem. These vulnerabilities are particularly true for the very
young and girls.
5. Children who work do not have the opportunity to participate in
activities that are a crucial part of growing up, such as playing, going
to school, and socializing with their peers. They do not obtain the basic
level of education that is needed to cope in life.
6. When these activities are abandoned in favor of work, children are
pushed into adulthood before they are ready. All children, regardless of
race or social and economic status, are entitled to enjoy their
childhood years and to grow up fully and naturally. All have the right to
love, education, and protection. Understanding these rights is the first
step in preventing child labor and providing children with education so
that they can look forward to a better future.
What can be done to prevent, reduce, and eliminate child labor?
1. Education is the key:
Education has been the main tool of intervention in addressing child labor
since the issue was first identified by industrialized countries in the
nineteenth century. It is pivotal to eliminating and preventing child labor, to

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establishing a skilled workforce, and to promoting development based on the
principles of social justice and human rights.
There has been progress in recent years in raising public consciousness of
the problem of child labor, of its pervasive and tenacious nature, and of the
fact that it is growing in some areas of the world, for example, in parts of
sub-Saharan Africa. Global efforts to achieve Education for All (EFA) and the
progressive elimination of child labor are therefore inextricably linked.
On the one hand, education is an essential tool in preventing child labor.
Child labor is a major obstacle to the achievement of EFA, since children who
are working full time cannot go to school. The educational achievement of
those who combine work and school will suffer, and there is a strong
likelihood that they will drop out of school in order to go into full-time
employment. Governments, the social partners, civil society, local, regional,
and national education authorities, teachers, parents, communities, and
other actors need to work towards the reduction of child labor through
increased enrollment and completion rates for (former) child laborers and
children at risk, and through the provision of life skills and livelihood training
for older children.
2. Barriers to education:
Primary education in most countries is not completely free, and in most
developing countries schooling is not accessible to all children. Parents who
send their children to primary school must shoulder numerous indirect costs,
such as for uniforms and textbooks. Furthermore, they incur the opportunity
cost, which is the wage that the child would earn if she or he was working
instead of going to school.
Still, while poverty is an important “pull” factor, dragging children
prematurely into the labor market, there are also important “push” factors,
particularly social exclusion, within the education system itself or within the
community. Barriers to girls’ education are even greater. For example, in
some parts of the world, it is not considered appropriate for girls to be seen
in public or to walk to school, owing to the distance or fear of assault.

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In addition, schools in some countries do not have adequate sanitation
facilities for girls, which may also affect their attendance. Some parents may
not send their daughters to school if there is not a female teacher. Others
may view education as promoting behavior unfavorable to their daughters’
future marital prospects.
3. The urgent need for education policy reform:
Investments in primary education need to focus more on children at risk and
initiatives need to offset the opportunity cost for very poor families. Not
taking these children into special consideration will jeopardize the goal of
achieving universal primary education by 2015. Furthermore, in a number of
countries, many children face the problem of a lack of options available to
them beyond primary education.
The UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and EFA focus exclusively on
the provision of universal primary education, which usually involves children
up to the age of 12 or 13. However, if the legal minimum age of employment
in a country has been set at 14 or higher, what are children supposed to do
for the intervening years?
Secondary education is not always available, particularly in rural areas, and
in many developing countries it is expensive and beyond the reach of most
poor families. This issue needs to be addressed to ensure coherence
between compulsory education and legislation governing the minimum age
of employment.
Education for all children and the establishment of a properly resourced,
accessible, and quality education system in every country worldwide is an
ideal to which the international community has aspired for many years and
which coalesced into the global EFA initiative. If the aims and objectives of
EFA could be achieved, then children would not need to work to support
themselves and their families. Girls would enjoy the same educational
opportunities as boys.
Decent work opportunities would grow exponentially. Children, young
people, and previously uneducated communities would have a better

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understanding of their rights in society and in the workplace. Even if only
some elements of the EFA initiative are achieved, the situation would
improve for children at risk of entering the worst forms of child labor.
4. Global collaboration is essential:
Efforts need to be conducted within a strong framework of national policy
development and reform, first to improve basic education and later to reform
secondary and tertiary education. Preparing young people for the world of
work, discouraging premature entry to the workplace, highlighting the
dangers of the worst forms of child labor, and ensuring a smooth transition
from school to work should all be fundamental objectives of education
systems in the prevention of child labor. Success of this ambitious endeavor
depends on partnership, cooperation, and mainstreaming.

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