Abstract
Abstract This study descriptively explores the evolution of child labor rates in Brazilian states from 2000 to 2014 and indicates specific limits and contradictions of governmental measures adopted for its reduction. On one hand, we examine the coverage of the Bolsa Família conditional cash transfer (PBF), which is a transversal program to reduce poverty. On the other hand, we examine the design of Labor Inspections with a focus on child labor. For this, we used data from the National Household Sample Survey, the Ministry of Social Development and the Ministry of Labor and Employment. Our analysis showed that the expressive reduction of the child labor rate in Brazil was driven, in particular, by the rural areas of the North and Northeast regions. However, the agricultural sector is still the major employer of child labor. We also found that the distribution of governmental countermeasures are contradictory as to the rate of child labor in the states. Inspection activities are shorthanded in fighting child labor in domestic work and family agriculture as a result of the constitutional apparatus of the inviolability of homes. The PBF conditional cash transfer is also limited in tackling child labor given that poverty level determines eligibility.
Highlights
Brazil has recently been internationally cited as one of the successful countries in the combat of child labor
We noted that the decrease in child labor was greater in states from the North and Northeast regions, leading to slight homogenization of rates in Brazil as a whole in 2014
Child labor is concentrated in the agricultural sector, especially in family agriculture where children and adolescents are unpaid and produce for own consumption
Summary
Brazil has recently been internationally cited as one of the successful countries in the combat of child labor. Conditional cash transfers are the major countermeasures adopted in Brazil against child labor Among these are the Program for Eradication of Child Labor (PETI) and the Bolsa Família Program (PBF), both managed by the Ministry of Social Development (MDS). The major contribution of this study is to provide a relevant descriptive analysis of the evolution of the prevelance of child labor in Brazilian states and to shed light on some limits and contradictions faced by the PBF and Labor Inspection activities. (1) we will use common Brazilian acronyms and abbreviations
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