Child Labor Force Participation Research Articles

Schooling and Labor Market Impacts of Bolivia's Bono Juancito Pinto Program

Schooling and Labor Market Impacts of Bolivia's <i>Bono Juancito Pinto</i> Program

Inheritance Laws, Educational Attainment &amp; Child Labor: Evidence from Indian States

This paper uses bargaining framework to examine how the introduction of female inheritance rights implemented in four Indian states between 1986 and 1994 impacts the educational achievement and labor force participation of children affected by the ability to inherit their father's land. I investigate changes to inheritance laws implemented that increased women's inheritance rights. Using data from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series for India (IPUMS India) I find the probability of primary completion rose by 5.83 percentage points, and the probability of child labor force participation decreased by 2.86 percentage points for children living in states that implemented reforms relative to control states. In a sample with a 51 percent primary completion rate and an 8.8 percent employment rate for children ages 10-14, these results indicate an 11.5 percent increase in primary completion and child labor force participation decreasing to just over two-thirds of the mean. Performing a triple difference analysis, I find that these results are larger for female children and Hindu children, who are directly affected by the inheritance laws put into place throughout the observed years of data.

One more year of schooling or work: Grade-transition and child labor in rural Bangladesh

This paper aims to identify the main factors hindering the achievement of universal primary education (Millennium Development Goal 2) for children in Rural Bangladesh using a large household survey data. It empirically examine factors affecting the grade-transition and the labor force participation of children aged 7-14 years in rural Bangladesh using the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 3 2005-2006 data. It addresses following important questions: (i) effects of family background and resources and child-specific characteristics on the grade-transition and child labor and (ii) whether these effects vary across grade levels. It uses the bivariate probit model to jointly estimate the grade-transition and the labor force participation equations. Results show that parental education has a significant positive effect on the grade-transition and a significant negative effect on the labor force participation. Children of more educated parents are more likely to transit to the next grade and just study and are less likely to participate in the labor force, combine study and work, and just work. It also finds that the positive effect of mother’s education on the probability of grade-transition and just study is larger on children in higher grades. On the other hand, it has a greater negative effect on the probability of just work on children in higher grades. Overall results show that father’s education has greater effect on the grade-transition in lower grades, while mother’s education has greater effect on the grade-transition in higher grades. Results suggest that birth-order has larger effect on the grade-transition and the labor force participation of children in lower grades. First-born children in lower grades are less likely to transit to the next grade and just study. On the other hand, they are more likely to participate in the labor force, combine study and work, and just work. Similarly, results show that children who experienced interruptions in schooling in lower grades are more likely to participate in the labor force and combine study and work, and are less likely to just study compared to children who experienced interruptions in schooling in higher grades. Results suggest that low parental education level and significant resource constraints both in terms of wealth and time are main obstacles in achieving the goal of universal primary education for children. Many children lack adequate learning environment at home, in part due to low parental educational attainment. There is an urgent need to focus on increasing the capacity, financial and non-financial, of rural households. Conditional cash transfers, micro-finance programs, interest-free educational loans, and scholarships, particularly targeted towards poorer households and female students, will enhance educational investments and reduce child labor.

A Comparative Analysis of Rural and Urban Child Labor in Pakistan

The paper presents a comparative analysis of determinants of child labor in urban and rural areas. A simple theoretical model (Probit) of household’s decision about child’s time allocation is used. From the econometric data sets of urban and rural areas of two districts of Pakistan, evidence is provided suggesting that urban and rural children have different determinants of child labor reflecting their different socio-economic background, e.g. education of head of household (as a continuous as well as binary variable) impacts the child schooling positively but the effect of continuous variable is much stronger for urban households, employment status of head of household impacts the child schooling positively in urban areas but negatively inrural areas. Mother’s employment is complement to child schooling in urban areas but substitute in rural areas. It negatively impacts the child labor in urban but positively in rural areas. Poverty affects the child schooling three times more strongly in rural households than urban ones. Gender discrimination is schooling participation is higher in rural households but in labor force participation of children, it is higher in urban households. Part-time labor force participation of children increases by incremental change in age in urban householdsbut it decreases in rural households. A few number of determinants are same for both groups of children. For policy implication different sets of policies are required for urban and rural areas to enhance child welfare.

Explaining variation in child labor statistics

Child labor statistics are critical for assessing the extent and nature of child labor activities in developing countries. In practice, widespread variation exists in how child labor is measured. Questionnaire modules vary across countries and within countries over time along several dimensions, including respondent type and the structure of the questionnaire. Little is known about the effect of these differences on child labor statistics. This paper presents the results from a randomized survey experiment in Tanzania focusing on two survey design choices: different questionnaire design to classify children work and proxy response versus self-reporting. Use of a short module compared with a more detailed questionnaire has a statistically significant effect, especially on child labor force participation rates, and, to a lesser extent, on working hours. Proxy reports do not differ significantly from a child's self-report. Further analysis demonstrates that survey design choices affect the coefficient estimates of some determinants of child labor in a child labor supply equation. The results suggest that low-cost changes to questionnaire design will potentially clarify the concept of work for respondents.

Household and market production of families in a late nineteenth century American city

Urban families in the late nineteenth century depended upon their children as their most important source of labor income apart from the male head of house-hold. This paper explores the determinants of the labor force participation of children over 10 years old within the context of the economic theory of household and market production, using microlevel data from 1880 Philadelphia. The father's income and unemployment, the presence of the mother or father, boarders, servants, older and younger siblings, parents' literacy, and ethnicity, among other variables, are used in a probit analysis of the labor force participation of children. The results validate the economic theory of household and market production demonstrating, in particular, substitution between mothers and their daughters and the role of comparative advantage in family decisions concerning the allocation of their members' time. Ethnic differences were only important for daughters.

Child-Labor Legislation and the Labor Force Participation of Children

Child-Labor Legislation and the Labor Force Participation of Children