Child Labour in the Global Economy - Dissertation Example

Table of Contents Introduction 2 Prevalence of Child Labour through the Globe 2 Impact of Child Labour on Child and Social Welfare 5 Factors leading to Child Labour 8 Policy Measures 10 Conclusion 10 References 11 Bibliography 12 Introduction Prevalence of child labour is regarded as one of the most pestering of all issues which is expanding incessantly with globalisation despite policy measures being adopted to bring an end to the same. It is predominant over the transition economies of Asia and the underprivileged regions of Africa as suggested by Statistical Information and Monitoring Program on Child Labour (SIMPOC), sponsored by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). A survey report submitted by SIMPOC in 2002 revealed nearly 18 percent of the world’s population aged between 5 and 14 years to be involved in rigorous labour and 52 percent out of them hailing from Asian nations (Edmonds & Pavcnik, 2005, p. 201). Child labour is defined as any work which forces children away from school and in addition compels them to endure physical stress owing to hard work under hostile environment. Thus in addition to harming their health, such activities also take a toll on their mental development. Any activity which is featured by either a violation of national Minimum Age Laws or is abusive in nature or through any way hampers a child’s well being, is read as child labour (University of Iowa, 2011). Research undertaken by ILO in 2006, shows more than 74 million children aged less than 14 years are exposed to dangerous and hostile work environments. Tentatively one out of every six children aged below 17 is a victim of child labour with the highest incidence of the same found in Asian and African nations (Gifford, 2009, p. 7). The present paper discusses the prevalence of different kinds of child labour throughout the world and its impact upon the welfare of children. The paper also lists the factors which actually induce the practice of child labour in a nation and list of policy measures which could possibly bail out the victims of a crime called child labour. Prevalence of Child Labour through the Globe Children had been historically involved in a variety of jobs ranging from agricultural and farming to industrial and manufacturing jobs. But, this conventional idea employing children in the aforementioned fields is rapidly changing as most often it is their parents who force their offspring into laborious activities. A survey conducted by ILO across 36 less developed economies reported a fraction of the 25 percent children employed in economically active jobs to be working for others. In addition, most of them work without pay with dominance of such form of exploitation more prevalent in urban than in rural areas. UNICEF reported this figure at 4.2 percent in case of rural regions and 5.2 percent for urban areas, for LDCs. Furthermore, out of the few children who work for others, nearly 6 percent do not earn any wage; such situation normally arises in cases when parents hold their children as collaterals while accepting loans and default payments on the same owing to poverty (Edmonds & Pavcnik, 2005, p. 202). Figure 1 alongside summarises the outcome of a survey conducted by ILO in 2006 to comprehend the change in occurrence of child labour across the world through 2000-2004. It shows the highest concentration of child labour in Sub-Saharan Africa followed by Asia-Pacific areas. Child labour is found to have dropped drastically in Latin America and Caribbean with a reduction of more than 10 percent of the total child population over the region. On the whole, the scenario has improved for child labour throughout the world within a span of four years. This fact has an obvious implication that the world is indeed developing at a fast pace and in a homogeneous pattern. Figure 2 on the other hand, emphasises upon the kinds of jobs that children between 5 and 14 years of age, are employed in. It shows a majority of them to be employed in agricultural and farming activities (69%) followed by those employed in the service sector (22%) and industry (9%) (ILO, 2006, p. 8). The large chunk of the total number of children employed in agricultural activities speaks of the prevalence of the same in developing nations where agriculture is the predominant mode of living. Following this line of logic, the following tabulated statistics according to 2002 records, doesn’t sound surprising enough. Girls are also found to be working longer than boys with the total number of hours per week stretching to as much as 40 hours in the rural regions of developing nations (Edmonds & Pavcnik, 2005, p. 205). In fact, the economic development of nations undergoing transition is often associated with the growing incidence of child labour. For instance, child labour in India, one of the fastest developing nations in the world, is growing at the rate of 4 percent per annum as per 2006 records. The magnitude had been almost similar in China, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Asia which houses some of the most rapidly transiting nations in the world accounts for almost 60 percent of total child labour in the world. Nearly 82 percent out of this total number are employed in agriculture and farming practices while 9 percent of them are involved in hazardous industrial tasks such as mining and construction (Wal, 2006, p. 166-67). Impact of Child Labour on Child and Social Welfare The hazards associated with child labour are often multiplied due to the impact that it has over the well-being of the child. Not only do long and stressful hours of work take a toll on their health, they also deprive them from education which hampers their normal development. Often such underprivileged children grow into anti-socials and eventually get involved into a multitude of crimes. Toll on Education Children who are involved in strenuous hours of work often find it difficult to take time out for education and school. In most of the cases they get a year or two of rigorous schooling which virtually has very little significance in educating them in the true sense (Shukla & Ali, 2006, p. 180). However, as UNICEF reports, the degree of child labour existing in any region is not mutually exhaustive with the degree of illiteracy in the region. The survey conducted across 36 low income nations in the year 2000 revealed that 74 percent of the children aged between 5 and 14 years of age regularly attend school even though the proportion is found to be higher in case of boys than for girls (Edmonds & Pavcnik, 2005, p. 204-6). This brings to light yet another disturbing fact – that girls spend their spare hours in household chores while boys enjoy the liberty to educate themselves. On the other hand, a lack of education acts as a vicious circle given that poor education would imply a lack of human resources endowment in the concerned nation hence leading to a fall in the level of per capital income in the nation as well. Lower the rate of literacy among people, lower will be their awareness about the significance of the same and thus, they will tend to push their children towards child labour. This is where the importance of education lies in combating child labour from the heart of the society. Vulnerability Children who are involved in hazardous tasks often are susceptible to high risks of different kinds. They often hurt themselves while dealing with sharp tools and machinery used in agriculture as well as other industrial jobs. Furthermore, they are also exposed to the risks of working amidst fertilisers and pesticides which are often used in agriculture. However, there are some forms of labour like selling newspapers which are slightly less strenuous in nature and hence, have little implications upon a child’s health (Nanjunda, 2008, p. 266). But, jobs such as child trafficking, involvement in prostitution, soldiers or are forced into bondage definitely prove taxing for not only the child’s physical development, but mental growth as well. In fact research shows almost 68 percent of total children forced into illicit activities are bonded in nature. Feudal forms of society are highly prevalent in today’s world which builds the case for child labour in many of the rural regions of developing nations or even those which are undergoing a transition phase. Bonded labour is found to be highly prevalent in the rural regions of the world hence. In addition to the aforementioned impacts of child labour, there are also short and long run implications of the same over the society. One of the most important impacts of child labour upon society is that it helps to curtail or alleviate poverty of the concerned household. In most cases, children are driven to work in order to bail their respective families out of the impending problem of poverty. This is the reason why child labour is rarely practiced in developed economies of the world. Some of the long run implications however suggest that child labour could actually prove detrimental or the economic development of a nation over the long run. The higher the degree of child labour in the economy, the poorer will be the accumulation of human capital in the concerned economy and hence, lower will be the rate o literacy in the nation. In addition, there will be a rise in the level of income inequality in the nation added with a rise in the degree of gender inequality in the same. On the other hand, a poor incidence of education in the society actually leads to a rise in fertility of the concerned region thus leading to a hike in the population growth rate as well. Hence child labour actually leads to deterioration in the economic growth and development of the concerned nation as a whole (Galli, 2001, p. 6). Factors leading to Child Labour Prior to dealing with the abolishment of child labour from an economy, it is important to list down the factors which actually lead to the incidence of the same. One of the primary elements which actually result to child labour is a high extent of poverty in the particular nation. Poverty results to a fall in the disposable income of the household which takes a toll over the standard of living of the family. The following paragraphs deal with the factors which actually initiate child labour in a nation. High incidence of poverty Poverty could actually drive the parents to insist their children to work. However despite their compulsions, parents are rarely found to opt for the same which is quite evident from the household welfare function developed out of research. Marginal utility of household income had been found to be highly negatively correlated with that of marginal utility of income contributed by child workers. Thus, once parents start earning higher they prohibit the practice of sending their children to work. Parents are found to try their best to provide education to their children. Research shows the nations which earn a high per capita income have lower rates of child labour prevailing in their respective societies. In fact, 73 percent o the total variation in economic activity produced by children owes to differences in the level of GDP per capita. Between 1996 and 1998, almost 80 percent of the total reduction in child labour occurred as a result of improvements in the standard of living conditions of the respective households (Edmonds & Pavcnik, 2005, p. 210). Trade Benefits Children are often found to be highly contributing to an improvement in the trade practices of respective nations. In many cases, commodities produced by children re found to entice more foreign demand due to their subtle and delicate nature. This could actually be considered as an application of the nimble finger theory which says that children are more specialised in performing delicate tasks due to the small structure of their body and thinner fingers with which they could work. However, a corollary of the fact is that the greater the amount of international trade that a country involves itself into, lower will be the incidence of child labour in the same given the increasing rate at which marginal utility of income reaped out of child labour is associated with. Hence, higher the volume of trade in a nation, lower will be the incidence of child labour in the same. This is evident from the drastic change of situation of Vietnam which employs a huge proportion of its children in agricultural practices, following the liberalisation of the rice market of the economy (Edmonds & Pavcnik, 2005, p. 211). Other factors Efficiency of the national credit market plays a pivotal role behind the prevalence of child labour in a given economy. Most of the credit markets and institutions deny to forward financial assistance to needy people that leaves little options for them but to send their children to work to help sustain their families. For instance, in Tanzania, child labour is found to be highly widespread owing to the frequent crop losses and lack of financial assistance to help them revive out of their plights. Again, Brazil stands out as an example where unemployment among the male heads of families automatically implies the children of the household should work. In addition, lack of suitable educational institutions often drive children to work as is in the case of Ghana. In underprivileged nations like those of Ghana, the parents often send their children to work owing to a lack of ample educational institutions and to reap out something useful out of their spare time. This very factor has led many national governments to take up the case of improving the quality of educational institutions in the respective nations. A very popular measure which they have adopted is that of mid-day meal which has found popularity in developing nations like India and Bangladesh (Edmonds & Pavcnik, 2005, p. 213-5). Despite the fact that trade liberalisation is fast moving pace across the world today, the incidence of child labour is found to be quite high as well. This very fact makes room for framing policies to curb the social vice. Policy Measures Many nations have actually adopted measures such as putting a restriction on child labour as whole. However, these measures are of little significance in the real world. It is more important to uproot the factors which lead to such practices. One very effective measure could be that of introducing mid-day meal system within the schools which could actually lure the children to school and the poor parents are attracted by the scheme as well since it saves them some money spent on food (Pratap, 2008, p. 374. Another equally effective measure could be to impose trade bans on commodities produced through employing child labour as US Government has recently imposed. Conclusion Child labour accounts for one of the most disturbing of all social malice which tamper the social and economic well being as a whole. However, the issue could be sorted out through identifying the exact factors which cause the problem. These problems though have similar implications, result out of varying factors according to the nature of the economy. Moreover, the problem persists among the low income nations only which demand the national governments of such nations to constantly stay on a vigil and update themselves continually. References Edmonds, E. V. & Pavcnik, N. 2005. ‘Child Labor in the Global Economy’. Journal of Economic Perspectives. Vol. 19 (1): 199–220. Galli, R. 2001. ‘The Economic Impact of Child Labour’. Decent Work Research Programme, DP/128/2001 [PDF]. Available at http://www.lex.unict.it/eurolabor/ricerca/altri_wp/econ_impact_child.pdf accessed on: March 10, 2011. Gifford, C. 2009. Child Labour. London, UL: Evans Brothers. International Labour Organisation. 2006. ‘The end of child labour: Within reach’. International Labour Conference, 95th Session, Report I (B) [PDF]. Available at http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/relm/ilc/ilc95/pdf/rep-i-b.pdf accessed on: March 10, 2011. Nanjunda, D. C. 2008. Child labour and human rights: a prospective. New Delhi, India: Kalpaz Publishers. Pratap, R. 2008. ‘The implementation of ILO child labour standards in Asia: Overview and selected issues’ in Child labour in a globalized world: a legal analysis of ILO action by Nesi, G., Nogler, L. & Pertile, M. (eds). USA: Ashgate Publishers. Shukla, C. K. & Ali, S. 2006. Child Labour Socio-Economic Dimensions. New Delhi, India: Sarup & Sons. University of Iowa. 2011. ‘What is Child Labor?’ Available at http://www.continuetolearn.uiowa.edu/laborctr/child_labor/about/what_is_child_labor.html accessed on: March 10, 2011. Wal, S. 2006. Combating Child Labour Legal Approach, Volume 4. New Delhi, India: Sarup & Sons. Bibliography Herath, G. & Sharma, K. 2007. Child labour in South Asia. England: Ashgate Publishers. Hindman, H. D. 2009. The world of child labor: an historical and regional survey. USA: M. E. Sharpe. International Labour Office. 2002. A future without child labour: Global report under the follow-up to the ILO Declaration on fundamental principles and rights at work. Geneva, Switzerland: ILO Publications. Narasaiah, M. L. Child Labour and Agriculture. 2003. New Delhi, India: Discovery Publishing House. OECD. 2003.Combating child labour: a review of policies. USA: OECD Publications. Randall, K. Q. A., Edmonds, E. V. & Tatsiramos, K. 2010. Child Labor and the Transition Between School and Work. USA: Emerald Group. Read More