Transcript Child work and labor. India case study

Child work and labor.
India case study
Children in Developing Countries
Renata Serra – March 1st
Child labor vs. child work
 Child labor: ‘detrimental’ to child health and
development

See ILO definition
 Child labor: economic/productive activities
 Child work: household, own-farm work, subsistence
 NOTE: If I have not followed consistently this terminology, it is
because I do not believe in it myself. But you should know it!!
Is this terminological distinction
important?
 Yes
 Need to identify the situations most at risk
 Consensus is wide when fighting against labor
 Child work regarded as integral part of life in many
contexts (‘child socialization’)
 No
 Too narrow definition of the problem: child work may be
exploitative too
 Rigid definitions: better to look at specific instances
than at broader and faulty categories
 Children’s contribution to the informal economy is
made invisible and unrecognized (Burra’s reading)
Categories of children
 Studies use different number of categories:
 2: Children working or in school
 3: Children working, in school or idle
 4: children at work only, at school only, both
working and at school, idle
 Defining working children as all those who
are not at school thus fails to see the
complexities of the situation
Idle children
 Children neither at school nor working
 Is “idle children” a useful category?
 Burra clearly is against:
 Idle children are working children in disguise
 Children not at school are deprived/exploited
 However, data show that truly idle children
exist!

Economic studies show the idle children are a
product of low HH wealth, poor nutrition and
health, poor quality schooling, low child ability
The invisibility of child work
 Large and increasing informal economy
 Children’s unpaid work should be recognized as much
as women’s work
 Children work enables adults to take up other work (it
is more productive than it appears)
 Global economy is founded on sub-contracting
 Most producers work in households and use child labor
 Hence, attention should be paid to what happens
within the household production sphere

Children may be exploited and controls are inexistent
Policy implications
 Different policy implications emerge
according to how data are collected and
interpreted:
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


Restrict all forms of child work
Eliminate child labor first
Improve and expand schooling
Improve child health and nutrition (to make
schooling more feasible and attractive)
Is a ban on child work effective?
 A total ban on child work may be counterproductive
as it may:


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Increase the pool of “idle” children
Decrease schooling for children both at work & school
Increase poverty in the short term and thus diminish
future child potential
 More effective interventions are:
 Increasing household productivity and income
 Improving schooling quality
 Improving labor markets (esp. for the young)
 Introducing technology that substitutes for child work