child labour

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Work done by children less than 15 years old. The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates (1996) that there are at least 250 million child labourers aged 5–14, 150 million working on a full-time basis; in some countries 20% of child workers in rural areas are aged under 10, 5% in urban areas. Asia (excluding Japan) has an estimated 153 million child workers, Africa 80 million, and Latin America (including the Caribbean) some 17.5 million (1996). However, the estimated incidence of child labour is largest in Africa, at approximately 41% of all 5–14 year olds (two out of five children), compared with 21% in Asia (one in five), and 17% in Latin America (one in six). Child labour in Asia is declining as a result of growth in income per head, the spread of basic education, and a reduction in the size of families. In Africa and Latin America, however, it is increasing owing to rapid population growth and lowering standards of living. Child labour also exists in richer industrialized countries in seasonal activities, street trades, farming, or small workshops, and in those regions moving towards a market economy, such as Eastern Europe. More than two-thirds of all child labour is found in the agricultural sector. In the UK, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) estimated that some 500,000 schoolchildren were working illegally in 2001. In the USA the growth of the service sector, the rapid increase in the supply of part-time jobs, and the search for a more flexible workforce have contributed to the expansion of the child-labour market. In the 1990s there was a major international effort to end child labour.

Nine out of ten working children are engaged in agricultural or related activities. World attention, however, focuses on children in developing countries employed in manufacturing and export industries such as textiles, clothing, carpets, and footwear, where hours are long and working conditions hazardous to their health and safety, and where their labour is cheaper than that of adults. Children employed as wage earners account for a small percentage of working children. Most hand their earnings over to their parents and their work is often essential to the household.

More boys than girls work. Girls, however, tend to work more hours, especially those employed as domestic workers. Girls working as domestic servants away from their homes are frequently victims of abuse. Statistical surveys usually fail to account for full-time housework performed by many children, the vast majority of whom are girls. Prostitution is another type of activity in which children, especially girls, are increasingly found. It is estimated (1996) that more than a million girls and boys aged 17 and younger are engaged in prostitution in Asia, particularly in South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines. The fear of AIDS is aggravating the problem by driving customers to younger children.

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