Child Labour
Content
Youth & Labor
The Department of Labor is the sole federal agency that monitors child labor and enforces child labor laws. The most sweeping federal law that restricts the employment and abuse of child workers is the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Child labor provisions under FLSA are designed to protect the educational opportunities of youth and prohibit their employment in jobs that are detrimental to their health and safety. FLSA restricts the hours that youth under 16 years of age can work and lists hazardous occupations too dangerous for young workers to perform. Enforcement of the FLSA's child labor provisions is handled by the Department's Wage and Hour Division. See the Office of Compliance Assistance Policy's Web pages on youth in the workplace for compliance assistance for laws affecting youth. Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) Resources for Youth ODEP's focus on youth policy is aimed at improving transition outcomes of youth and young adults with disabilities toward successful employment and adulthood. The Department's YouthRules! initiative seeks to promote positive and safe work experiences for young workers. The Employment and Training Administration sponsors many programs designed to provide training opportunities and and job placement assistance programs for America¶s youth. The Department's Bureau of International Labor Affair's (ILAB) Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking efforts and activities include research and reporting on international child labor, forced labor, and human trafficking; administering grants to organizations engaged in efforts to eliminate child labor; and working to raise public awareness and understanding of these issues. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, which serves as a statistical resource to the Department of Labor, gathers statistics on a variety of subjects including those related to child labor.
Chapter I: Introduction
A. Overview The United States Department of Labor¶s Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) has been reporting on international child labor issues since 1993.1 This is the sixth report in ILAB¶s By the Sweat and Toil of Children series. Each of ILAB¶s reports has examined a specific aspect of child labor. This year¶s report, as requested by the Congress, examines: the economic benefits that could be realized from the elimination of abusive and exploitative child labor and the increased enrollment of these children in school. The study should look at the economic benefits to individual countries and to possible global benefits, in particular U.S. trade.2 According to the International Labor Organization, approximately 250 million children between the ages of five and 14 work, 120 million of whom work full time.3 Tens of millions of children work under harmful conditions, in circumstances that are detrimental to their physical, moral, and intellectual development. Children work in mines, crawling underground through small, unlit and unventilated passageways. Children, mostly girls, work long days as domestic servants and often suffer physical and emotional abuse. They are sold as carpet weavers to repay their parents¶ debts. Children do hard labor in rock quarries, breaking and carrying heavy stones. They toil on commercial plantations, often exposed to dangerous pesticides. Girls are sold into the nightmare of prostitution. Many children work long hours of work, often in excess of ten hours per day.4 Not all work is detrimental to children. In this report, the concern is exploitative work that endangers the health and development of children and undermines their access to educational opportunities. There is widespread agreement that the worst forms of child labor are indefensible and need to be abolished. But even when working children are not forced to endure harsh conditions, child labor entails sacrifice because children give up the opportunity to be engaged in other activities. The principal activity that children could and should be doing instead of working is going to school. This report provides a detailed analysis of the benefits that could be gained through having children attend school rather than work. It considers the barriers that keep many children from realizing these benefits and initiatives intended to lower these barriers. Chapter II of this report provides an overview of the benefits and costs of education. It considers empirical evidence from studies of over 90 countries and finds that for both individuals and society, education is generally a profitable investment. The chapter also suggests that the benefits of moving children from work to school would go not only to countries that reduce child labor, but also to the countries with which they trade. Chapter III starts by noting what is at first a puzzling fact: many children still work even though schooling is likely to be more beneficial for them, their families, and society over the long term. The chapter identifies some of the factors that must be overcome before working children can access the benefits of education. The chapter groups these factors into three
general classes of barriers: a poverty of resources, a poverty of opportunities, and the availability of work for children. Chapter IV describes policy strategies and provides examples of specific projects aimed at eliminating child labor. The analysis shows how such initiatives can help lower the barriers identified in Chapter III. Because of its prominence in the area of child labor elimination, much of the discussion in this chapter focuses on program sponsored by the International Labor Organization¶s (ILO) International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC). Finally, Chapter V presents some summary conclusions. The report also contains two appendices. Appendix A is a technical companion to Chapter II. It provides a more detailed description of the economic analysis leading to the conclusion that education is a profitable investment. Appendix B presents highlights of child labor data from countries for which the ILO made data available. For two countries, tabulations of data based on World Bank Living Standards Measurement Surveys are also presented. The remainder of this introduction seeks to place the report¶s analysis of child labor and schooling into a global context. It includes a discussion of the worst forms of child labor as identified in Convention No. 182, recently adopted by the ILO, and the trade-off between work and schooling. B. The Worst Forms of Child Labor Child labor takes many forms, some with significantly greater costs to children than others. Within the international community, consensus has grown that the worst forms of child labor must be eradicated without delay. In June 1999, the 174 member countries of the ILO unanimously adopted a new Convention (No. 182) on the Worst Forms of Child Labor.5 The Convention defines the worst forms of child labor to include: (a) all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict; (b) the use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances; (c) the use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the production and trafficking of drugs as defined in the relevant international treaties; (d) work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children.6 Convention No. 182 commits ratifying countries to ³take immediate and effective measures to secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour as a matter of urgency.´7 Addressing delegates to the International Labor Conference in Geneva on June 16, 1999,
President Clinton stressed the need for urgency in addressing the worst forms of child labor: [W]e must wipe from the Earth the most vicious forms of abusive child labor. Every single day tens of millions of children work in conditions that shock the conscience. There are...children handling dangerous chemicals; children forced to work when they should be in school, preparing themselves and their countries for a better tomorrow. Each of our nations must take responsibility. 8 Speaking in support of this Convention, U.S. Labor Secretary Alexis Herman urged: Let us agree that no child should be placed into forced or bonded labor. . . brutalized by exploitation in the commercial sex trade . . . abducted into militias for armed conflict . . . or subjected to other harmful and dangerous work. Through the new Convention . . ., we can help make sure that our children are nurtured not neglected²educated not exploited²helped not harmed.9 On December 2, 1999, President Clinton signed Convention 182, calling it, ³a victory for the children of the world.´10 The President linked addressing child labor with promoting children¶s education. ³If we want to slam the door shut on abusive child labor,´ he stated, ³we must open the door wide to education and opportunity. After all, nations can only reach their potential when their children can fulfill theirs.´11 As the President and Secretary both point out, the worst forms of child labor are performed at the cost of children¶s education. In addition, each stresses that these costs are compounded by the type of work, and the conditions of work, that children involved in the worst forms of child labor must endure. Due to limitations within the existing data and literature, studies of child labor are typically not focused on the worst forms of child labor. To the extent that data exists, they allow a look at child labor more generally. The working definition of child labor employed for this report is any work that prevents a child from attending school or leads to their obtaining insufficient schooling.12 Of course, this definition includes the worst forms of child labor, but it is not limited to these forms. The report shows that it can be convincingly argued that schooling yields higher benefits than child labor for children in general. As this result holds when no distinction is made among the forms of child labor, it must hold for the worst forms of child labor, since it is these forms that involve the greatest costs for children. C. The Relationship between Child Labor and Schooling As shown in Box I-1, there is a clear inverse relationship between child labor and school enrollment. Countries with higher incidences of child labor have lower school enrollment rates and vice versa. Specific evidence from several countries also suggests that children may work instead of going to school.13
y
A study in Botswana reported only 44 percent of boys seven to nine years old enrolled in school, and among those out of school, 34 percent were found engaged in income earning activities.14
y
Research in Paraguay found that although schooling is compulsory to age thirteen, 28 percent of all twelve year olds are already out of school, and of these, 19 percent are working in the formal labor market.15 BOXI-1 School Enrollment is Higher in Countries where Fewer Children Work
The above scatterplots show the rate of economic activity among ten to 14 year olds in 1990 against gross enrollment rates for (A) primary, and (B) secondary education in the same year. Each diamond represents a country. Plot (A) includes available data for 86 countries, and plot (B) includes available data for 81 countries.* Both graphs illustrate that there is a strong inverse relationship between children¶s rate of economic activity and their school enrollment. Higher school enrollment in a country is associated with lower incidence of economic activity among ten to 14 year olds. The economically active population (EAP) data are from the International Labour Organization, 1997, Economically Active Population (Electronic Database, Fourth Edition, Geneva). Data on gross enrollment rates are available from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on the worldwide web (http://unescostat.unesco.org/Indicator/Indframe.htm). The ³gross´ enrollment rate is the number of children in a country enrolled in a particular school level (primary or secondary) over the total number of children of typical age for that level of schooling. Ratios can exceed 100 percent if children enrolled in a particular schooling level include children not of typical age for that level. Both primary and secondary school enrollments were considered because in many countries younger children in the 10-14 age range are in primary school, while older children in this age range are in secondary school. It was not possible to obtain data on school enrollment of 10-14 year old children per se. Countries that did not report economic activity or gross enrollment statistics were not included in this analysis.
* The Pearson correlation coefficient for EAP rate and gross enrollment is -.577 at the primary level and -.817 at the secondary level. These values are statistically significant. The Pearson coefficient measures the linear relationship between two variables. Its values range between -1 and 1; the closer the absolute value of the coefficient is to one the stronger the relationship between the two variables. The sign of the coefficient indicates the direction of the relationship (i.e., a negative coefficient means that the higher the economically active rate, the lower the gross enrollment rate). While causality cannot be determined from this analysis, Pearson coefficients of between -.577 and -.817 demonstrate that high economic activity among 10-14 year olds is strongly associated with a low gross enrollment rate.
y
y
Evidence from Bolivia suggests that children who work, on average, attend two years less of school,16 and that boys aged seven to 13 years who do not attend school work an average of fifty-one hours a week.17 In Tanzania, research based on detailed analysis of how children use their time, found a clear trade off between the amount of time spent studying and the time spent working.18
While it is not possible to determine the exact extent or degree of the trade off, this evidence suggests that a trade off between work and schooling exists for many children. This report is concerned about those children for whom this trade off is made in favor of work, what it costs them, and in exploring ways to tip the balance in favor of school. D. The Value of Investing in Children This report analyzes the benefits that accrue from withdrawing children from work and placing them in schools. As a humanitarian concern, few in the international community debate the need to address child labor. The recent unanimous adoption of ILO Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor reinforces this point. In this report, an economic consideration of child labor is provided. The report draws on economic data and studies that compare the costs and benefits of work as compared to those for schooling. As the report finds, the evidence generally supports the proposition that education is the best investment that can be made in children. Children stand to benefit, but so do their families, society, and the world through the mechanism of international trade. Moreover, removing children from the worst forms of child labor, such as sexual exploitation or forced and bonded labor, stands to bring even greater benefit given the loss suffered by children subjected to such abusive conditions. Despite these findings, working children continue to face formidable barriers in moving from work to school. The report examines these barriers and considers a variety of policies and strategies aimed at addressing them. Such efforts at the international, national, and local levels can play an important part in addressing the problem of exploitative child labor. The report also describes IPEC projects as examples of the kinds of targeted action that can be taken to address the various barriers faced by working children and their families. These projects seek to help specific groups of working children, but are also intended to serve as
models to promote broader action on child labor within countries. Since they are meant to serve as models for future action, evaluation of these efforts is critical for ensuring that the most effective are expanded or duplicated. IPEC is currently working with the support of the U.S. Department of Labor to enhance its evaluation process.
Child Labour
A girl working in the reconstruction effort carries a tile on her head in the city of Choluteca, Honduras.
An estimated 158 million children aged 5-14 are engaged in child labour - one in six children in the world. Millions of children are engaged in hazardous situations or conditions, such as working in mines, working with chemicals and pesticides in agriculture or working with dangerous machinery. They are everywhere but invisible, toiling as domestic servants in homes, labouring behind the walls of workshops, hidden from view in plantations.
In Sub-Saharan Africa around one in three children are engaged in child labour, representing 69 million children. In South Asia, another 44 million are engaged in child labour. The latest national estimates for this indicator are reported in Table 9 (Child Protection) of UNICEF's annual publication The State of the World's Children.
Children living in the poorest households and in rural areas are most likely to be engaged in child labour. Those burdened with household chores are overwhelmingly girls. Millions of girls who work as domestic servants are especially vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. Labour often interferes with children¶s education. Ensuring that all children go to school and that their education is of good quality are keys to preventing child labour.
Featuring the original photo captions by Lewis W. Hine
About these Photos
Faces of Lost Youth
Left - Furman Owens, 12 years old. Can't read. Doesn't know his A,B,C's. Said, "Yes I want to learn but can't when I work all the time." Been in the mills 4 years, 3 years in the Olympia Mill. Columbia, South Carolina. Mid - Adolescent girls from Bibb Mfg. Co. in Macon, Georgia. Right - Doffer boys. Macon, Georgia.
The Mill
Left - A general view of spinning room, Cornell Mill. Fall River, Massachusetts. Mid - A moment's glimpse of the outer world. Said she was 11 years old. Been working over a year. Rhodes Mfg. Co. Lincolnton, North Carolina Right - Some boys and girls were so small they had to climb up on to the spinning frame to mend broken threads and to put back the empty bobbins. Bibb Mill No. 1. Macon, Georgia.
Left - One of the spinners in Whitnel Cotton Mill. She was 51 inches high. Has been in the mill one year. Sometimes works at night. Runs 4 sides - 48 cents a day. When asked how old she was, she hesitated, then said, "I don't remember," then added confidentially, "I'm not old enough to work, but do just the same." Out of 50 employees, there were ten children about her size. Whitnel, North Carolina. Mid - The overseer said apologetically, "She just happened in." She was working steadily. The mills seem full of youngsters who "just happened in" or "are helping sister." Newberry, South Carolina. Right - Jo Bodeon, a back-roper in the mule room at Chace Cotton Mill. Burlington, Vermont.
Newsies
Left - A small newsie downtown on a Saturday afternoon. St. Louis, Missouri. Mid - A group of newsies selling on the Capitol steps. Tony, age 8, Dan, 9, Joseph, 10, and John, age 11. Washington, D.C. Right - Tony Casale, age 11, been selling 4 years. Sells sometimes until 10 p.m. His paper told me the boy had shown him the marks on his arm where his father had bitten him for not selling more papers. He (the boy) said, "Drunken men say bad words to us." Hartford, Connecticut.
Left - Out after midnight selling extras. There were many young boys selling very late. Youngest boy in the group is 9 years old. Harry, age 11, Eugene and the rest were a little older. Washington, D.C. Mid - Newsboy asleep on stairs with papers. Jersey City, New Jersey. Right - Michael McNelis, age 8, a newsboy [with photographer Hine]. This boy has just recovered from his second attack of pneumonia. Was found selling papers in a big rain storm. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Left - Francis Lance, 5 years old, 41 inches high. He jumps on and off moving trolley cars at the risk of his life. St. Louis, Missouri. Mid - Fighting is not unusual here. In the alley, 4 p.m. Rochester, New York. Right - Where the newsboy's money goes (an ice cream vendor). Wilmington, Delaware.
Miners
Left - At the close of day. Waiting for the cage to go up. The cage is entirely open on two sides and not very well protected on the other two, and is usually crowded like this. The small boy in front is Jo Puma. South Pittston, Pennsylvania. Mid - View of the Ewen Breaker of the Pennsylvania Coal Co. The dust was so dense at times as to obscure the view. This dust penetrated the utmost recesses of the boys' lungs. A kind of slave-driver sometimes stands over the boys, prodding or kicking them into obedience. South Pittston, Pennsylvania. Right - Harley Bruce, a young coupling-boy at Indian Mine. He appears to be 12 or 14 years old and says he has been working there about a year. It is hard work and dangerous. Near Jellico, Tennessee.
Left - Breaker boys, Hughestown Borough, Pennsylvania Coal Co. One of these is James Leonard, another is Stanley Rasmus. Pittston, Pennsylvania. Mid - A young driver in the Brown Mine. Has been driving one year. Works 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily. Brown, West Virginia. Right - Breaker boys. Smallest is Angelo Ross. Pittston, Pennsylvania.
The Factory
Left - View of the Scotland Mills, showing boys who work in the mill. Laurinburg, North Carolina. Mid - 9 p.m. in an Indiana Glass Works. Right - Some of the young knitters in London Hosiery Mills. London, Tennessee.
Left - Young cigar makers in Engelhardt & Co. Three boys looked under 14. Labor leaders told me in busy times many small boys and girls were employed. Youngsters all smoke. Tampa, Florida. Mid - Boys in the packing room at the Brown Mfg. Co. Evansville, Indiana. Right - Willie, a Polish boy, taking his noon rest in a doffer box at the Quidwick Co. Mill. Anthony, Rhode Island.
Left - Day scene. Wheaton Glass Works. Boy is Howard Lee. His mother showed me the family record in Bible which gave his birth as July 15, 1894. 15 years old now, but has been in glass works two years and some nights. Millville, New Jersey. Mid - A boy making melon baskets in a basket factory. Evansville, Indiana. Right - Rob Kidd, one of the young workers in a glass factory. Alexandria, Virginia.
Seafood Workers
Left - Oyster shuckers working in a canning factory. All but the very smallest babies work. Began work at 3:30 a.m. and expected to work until 5 p.m. The little girl in the center was working. Her mother said she is "a real help to me." Dunbar, Louisiana. Mid - Shrimp pickers, including little 8-year-old Max on the right. Biloxi, Mississippi. Right - Johnnie, a 9year-old oyster shucker. Man with pipe behind him is a Padrone who has brought these people from Baltimore for four years. He is the boss of the shucking shed. Dunbar, Louisiana.
Left - Manuel the young shrimp picker, age 5, and a mountain of child labor oyster shells behind him. He worked last year. Understands not a word of English. Biloxi, Mississippi. Mid - Cutting fish in a sardine cannery. Large sharp knives are used with a cutting and sometimes chopping motion. The slippery floors and benches and careless bumping into each other increase the liability of accidents. "The salt water gits into the cuts and they ache," said one boy. Eastport, Maine. Right - Hiram Pulk, age 9, working in a canning company. "I ain't very fast only about 5 boxes a day. They pay about 5 cents a box," he said. Eastport, Maine.
Field and Farm Work
Left - Camille Carmo, age 7, and Justine, age 9. The older girl picks about 4 pails a day. Rochester, Massachusetts. Mid - Three boys, one of 13 yrs., two of 14 yrs., picking shadegrown tobacco on Hackett Farm. The "first picking" necessitates a sitting posture. Buckland, Connecticut. Right - Six-year-old Warren Frakes. Mother said he picked 41 pounds yesterday "An I don't make him pick; he picked some last year." Has about 20 pounds in his bag. Comanche County, Oklahoma.
Left - Twelve-year-old Lahnert boy topping beets. The father, mother, and two boys (9 and 12 yrs.) expect to make $700 in about 2 months time in the beet work. "The boys can keep up with me all right, and all day long," the father said. Begin at 6 a.m. and work until 6 p.m. with an hour off at noon. Fort Collins, Colorado. Mid - Eight-year-old Jack driving a horse rake. A small boy has difficulty keeping his seat on rough ground and this work is more or less dangerous. Western Massachusetts. Right - Norris Luvitt. Been picking 3 years in berry fields near Baltimore.
Little Salesmen
Left - After 9 p.m., 7-year-old Tommie Nooman demonstrating the advantages of the Ideal Necktie Form in a store window on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. His father
said, "He is the youngest demonstrator in America. Has been doing it for several years from San Francisco to New York. We stay a month or six weeks in a place. He works at it off and on." Remarks from the bystanders were not having the best effect on Tommie. Mid - Joseph Severio, peanut vender, age 11 [seen with photographer Hine]. Been pushing a cart 2 years. Out after midnight on May 21, 1910. Ordinarily works 6 hours per day. Works of his own volition. All earnings go to his father. Wilmington, Delaware. Right - In business for himself. Boston, Massachusetts.
A Variety of Jobs
Left - A Bowery bootblack in New York City. Mid - Bowling Alley boys. Many of them work setting pins until past midnight. New Haven, Connecticut. Right - George Christopher, Postal Telegraph, age 14. Been at it over 3 years. Does not work nights. Nashville, Tennessee.
Left - A boy carrying hats in New York City. Mid - Young boys working for Hickok Lumber Co. Burlington, Vermont. Right - Three young boys with shovels standing in the doorway of a Fort Worth & Denver train car.
Struggling Families
Left - A Jewish family and neighbors working until late at night sewing garters. This happens several nights a week when there is plenty of work. The youngest work until 9 p.m. The others until 11 p.m. or later. On the left is Mary, age 7, and 10-year-old Sam, and next to the mother is a 12-year-old boy. On the right are Sarah, age 7, next is her 11-year-old sister, 13year-old brother. Father is out of work and also helps make garters. New York City. Mid - A family working in the Tifton Cotton Mill. Four smallest children not working yet. The mother said she earns $4.50 a week and all the children earn $4.50 a week. Husband died and left her with 11 children. Two of them went off and got married. The family left the farm two years ago to work in the mill. Tifton, Georgia. Right - Picking nuts in dirty basement. The dirtiest imaginable children were pawing over the nuts and eating lunch on the table. Mother had a cold and blew her nose frequently (without washing her hands) and the dirty handkerchiefs reposed comfortably on table close to the nuts and nut meats. The father picks now. New York City.
Pastimes and Vices
Left - Killing time. Mill boys and men hanging around Swift's Pool Room, Saturday p.m. A common sight any day. Educational influences; bad stories and remarks ± will not bear repetition. Fall River, Massachusetts. Mid - Messengers absorbed in their usual game of poker in the "Den of the terrible nine" (the waiting room for Western Union Messengers). They play for money. Some lose a whole month's wages in a day and then are afraid to go home. The boy on the right has been a messenger for 4 years. Began at 12 years of age. He works all night now. During an evening's conversation he told me stories about his experiences with prostitutes to whom he carries messages frequently. Hartford, Connecticut. Right - Juvenile Court. An 8-year-old boy charged with stealing a bicycle. St. Louis, Missouri.
Left - A group of newsies playing craps in the jail alley at 10 p.m. Albany, New York. Mid 11 a.m. Newsies at Skeeter's Branch. They were all smoking. St. Louis, Missouri.. Right Richard Pierce, age 14, a Western Union Telegraph Co. messenger. Nine months in service, works from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Smokes and visits houses of prostitution. Wilmington, Delaware.
Group Portraits
Left - Getting working papers in New York City. Mid - Children on the night shift going to work at 6 p.m. on a cold, dark December day. They do not come out again until 6 a.m. When they went home the next morning they were all drenched by a heavy, cold rain and had few or no wraps. Two of the smaller girls with three other sisters work on the night shift and support a big, lazy father who complains he is not well enough to work. He loafs around the country store. The oldest three of these sisters have been in the mill for 7 years, and the two youngest for two years. The latter earns 84 cents a night. Whitnel, North Carolina. Right Some of the workers in the Farrand Packing Co. Baltimore, Maryland.
Left - At 5 p.m., boys going home from Monougal Glass Works. One boy remarked, "De place is lousey wid kids." Fairmont, West Virginia. Mid - A few of the young workers in the Beaumont Mill. Spartenburg, South Carolina. Right - Fish cutters at a canning company in Maine. Ages range from 7 to 12. They live near the factory. The 7-year-old boy in front, Byron Hamilton, has a badly cut finger but helps his brother regularly. Behind him is his brother George, age 11, who cut his finger half off while working. Ralph, on the left, displays his knife and also a badly cut finger. They and many youngsters said they were always cutting themselves. George earns a dollar some days usually 75 cents. Some of the others say they earn a dollar when they work all day. At times they start at 7 a.m. and work all day until midnight.
The Department of Labor is the sole federal agency that monitors child labor and enforces child labor laws. The most sweeping federal law that restricts the employment and abuse of child workers is the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Child labor provisions under FLSA are designed to protect the educational opportunities of youth and prohibit their employment in jobs that are detrimental to their health and safety. FLSA restricts the hours that youth under 16 years of age can work and lists hazardous occupations too dangerous for young workers to perform. Enforcement of the FLSA's child labor provisions is handled by the Department's Wage and Hour Division. See the Office of Compliance Assistance Policy's Web pages on youth in the workplace for compliance assistance for laws affecting youth. Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) Resources for Youth ODEP's focus on youth policy is aimed at improving transition outcomes of youth and young adults with disabilities toward successful employment and adulthood. The Department's YouthRules! initiative seeks to promote positive and safe work experiences for young workers. The Employment and Training Administration sponsors many programs designed to provide training opportunities and and job placement assistance programs for America¶s youth. The Department's Bureau of International Labor Affair's (ILAB) Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking efforts and activities include research and reporting on international child labor, forced labor, and human trafficking; administering grants to organizations engaged in efforts to eliminate child labor; and working to raise public awareness and understanding of these issues. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, which serves as a statistical resource to the Department of Labor, gathers statistics on a variety of subjects including those related to child labor.
Chapter I: Introduction
A. Overview The United States Department of Labor¶s Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) has been reporting on international child labor issues since 1993.1 This is the sixth report in ILAB¶s By the Sweat and Toil of Children series. Each of ILAB¶s reports has examined a specific aspect of child labor. This year¶s report, as requested by the Congress, examines: the economic benefits that could be realized from the elimination of abusive and exploitative child labor and the increased enrollment of these children in school. The study should look at the economic benefits to individual countries and to possible global benefits, in particular U.S. trade.2 According to the International Labor Organization, approximately 250 million children between the ages of five and 14 work, 120 million of whom work full time.3 Tens of millions of children work under harmful conditions, in circumstances that are detrimental to their physical, moral, and intellectual development. Children work in mines, crawling underground through small, unlit and unventilated passageways. Children, mostly girls, work long days as domestic servants and often suffer physical and emotional abuse. They are sold as carpet weavers to repay their parents¶ debts. Children do hard labor in rock quarries, breaking and carrying heavy stones. They toil on commercial plantations, often exposed to dangerous pesticides. Girls are sold into the nightmare of prostitution. Many children work long hours of work, often in excess of ten hours per day.4 Not all work is detrimental to children. In this report, the concern is exploitative work that endangers the health and development of children and undermines their access to educational opportunities. There is widespread agreement that the worst forms of child labor are indefensible and need to be abolished. But even when working children are not forced to endure harsh conditions, child labor entails sacrifice because children give up the opportunity to be engaged in other activities. The principal activity that children could and should be doing instead of working is going to school. This report provides a detailed analysis of the benefits that could be gained through having children attend school rather than work. It considers the barriers that keep many children from realizing these benefits and initiatives intended to lower these barriers. Chapter II of this report provides an overview of the benefits and costs of education. It considers empirical evidence from studies of over 90 countries and finds that for both individuals and society, education is generally a profitable investment. The chapter also suggests that the benefits of moving children from work to school would go not only to countries that reduce child labor, but also to the countries with which they trade. Chapter III starts by noting what is at first a puzzling fact: many children still work even though schooling is likely to be more beneficial for them, their families, and society over the long term. The chapter identifies some of the factors that must be overcome before working children can access the benefits of education. The chapter groups these factors into three
general classes of barriers: a poverty of resources, a poverty of opportunities, and the availability of work for children. Chapter IV describes policy strategies and provides examples of specific projects aimed at eliminating child labor. The analysis shows how such initiatives can help lower the barriers identified in Chapter III. Because of its prominence in the area of child labor elimination, much of the discussion in this chapter focuses on program sponsored by the International Labor Organization¶s (ILO) International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC). Finally, Chapter V presents some summary conclusions. The report also contains two appendices. Appendix A is a technical companion to Chapter II. It provides a more detailed description of the economic analysis leading to the conclusion that education is a profitable investment. Appendix B presents highlights of child labor data from countries for which the ILO made data available. For two countries, tabulations of data based on World Bank Living Standards Measurement Surveys are also presented. The remainder of this introduction seeks to place the report¶s analysis of child labor and schooling into a global context. It includes a discussion of the worst forms of child labor as identified in Convention No. 182, recently adopted by the ILO, and the trade-off between work and schooling. B. The Worst Forms of Child Labor Child labor takes many forms, some with significantly greater costs to children than others. Within the international community, consensus has grown that the worst forms of child labor must be eradicated without delay. In June 1999, the 174 member countries of the ILO unanimously adopted a new Convention (No. 182) on the Worst Forms of Child Labor.5 The Convention defines the worst forms of child labor to include: (a) all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict; (b) the use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances; (c) the use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the production and trafficking of drugs as defined in the relevant international treaties; (d) work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children.6 Convention No. 182 commits ratifying countries to ³take immediate and effective measures to secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour as a matter of urgency.´7 Addressing delegates to the International Labor Conference in Geneva on June 16, 1999,
President Clinton stressed the need for urgency in addressing the worst forms of child labor: [W]e must wipe from the Earth the most vicious forms of abusive child labor. Every single day tens of millions of children work in conditions that shock the conscience. There are...children handling dangerous chemicals; children forced to work when they should be in school, preparing themselves and their countries for a better tomorrow. Each of our nations must take responsibility. 8 Speaking in support of this Convention, U.S. Labor Secretary Alexis Herman urged: Let us agree that no child should be placed into forced or bonded labor. . . brutalized by exploitation in the commercial sex trade . . . abducted into militias for armed conflict . . . or subjected to other harmful and dangerous work. Through the new Convention . . ., we can help make sure that our children are nurtured not neglected²educated not exploited²helped not harmed.9 On December 2, 1999, President Clinton signed Convention 182, calling it, ³a victory for the children of the world.´10 The President linked addressing child labor with promoting children¶s education. ³If we want to slam the door shut on abusive child labor,´ he stated, ³we must open the door wide to education and opportunity. After all, nations can only reach their potential when their children can fulfill theirs.´11 As the President and Secretary both point out, the worst forms of child labor are performed at the cost of children¶s education. In addition, each stresses that these costs are compounded by the type of work, and the conditions of work, that children involved in the worst forms of child labor must endure. Due to limitations within the existing data and literature, studies of child labor are typically not focused on the worst forms of child labor. To the extent that data exists, they allow a look at child labor more generally. The working definition of child labor employed for this report is any work that prevents a child from attending school or leads to their obtaining insufficient schooling.12 Of course, this definition includes the worst forms of child labor, but it is not limited to these forms. The report shows that it can be convincingly argued that schooling yields higher benefits than child labor for children in general. As this result holds when no distinction is made among the forms of child labor, it must hold for the worst forms of child labor, since it is these forms that involve the greatest costs for children. C. The Relationship between Child Labor and Schooling As shown in Box I-1, there is a clear inverse relationship between child labor and school enrollment. Countries with higher incidences of child labor have lower school enrollment rates and vice versa. Specific evidence from several countries also suggests that children may work instead of going to school.13
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A study in Botswana reported only 44 percent of boys seven to nine years old enrolled in school, and among those out of school, 34 percent were found engaged in income earning activities.14
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Research in Paraguay found that although schooling is compulsory to age thirteen, 28 percent of all twelve year olds are already out of school, and of these, 19 percent are working in the formal labor market.15 BOXI-1 School Enrollment is Higher in Countries where Fewer Children Work
The above scatterplots show the rate of economic activity among ten to 14 year olds in 1990 against gross enrollment rates for (A) primary, and (B) secondary education in the same year. Each diamond represents a country. Plot (A) includes available data for 86 countries, and plot (B) includes available data for 81 countries.* Both graphs illustrate that there is a strong inverse relationship between children¶s rate of economic activity and their school enrollment. Higher school enrollment in a country is associated with lower incidence of economic activity among ten to 14 year olds. The economically active population (EAP) data are from the International Labour Organization, 1997, Economically Active Population (Electronic Database, Fourth Edition, Geneva). Data on gross enrollment rates are available from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on the worldwide web (http://unescostat.unesco.org/Indicator/Indframe.htm). The ³gross´ enrollment rate is the number of children in a country enrolled in a particular school level (primary or secondary) over the total number of children of typical age for that level of schooling. Ratios can exceed 100 percent if children enrolled in a particular schooling level include children not of typical age for that level. Both primary and secondary school enrollments were considered because in many countries younger children in the 10-14 age range are in primary school, while older children in this age range are in secondary school. It was not possible to obtain data on school enrollment of 10-14 year old children per se. Countries that did not report economic activity or gross enrollment statistics were not included in this analysis.
* The Pearson correlation coefficient for EAP rate and gross enrollment is -.577 at the primary level and -.817 at the secondary level. These values are statistically significant. The Pearson coefficient measures the linear relationship between two variables. Its values range between -1 and 1; the closer the absolute value of the coefficient is to one the stronger the relationship between the two variables. The sign of the coefficient indicates the direction of the relationship (i.e., a negative coefficient means that the higher the economically active rate, the lower the gross enrollment rate). While causality cannot be determined from this analysis, Pearson coefficients of between -.577 and -.817 demonstrate that high economic activity among 10-14 year olds is strongly associated with a low gross enrollment rate.
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Evidence from Bolivia suggests that children who work, on average, attend two years less of school,16 and that boys aged seven to 13 years who do not attend school work an average of fifty-one hours a week.17 In Tanzania, research based on detailed analysis of how children use their time, found a clear trade off between the amount of time spent studying and the time spent working.18
While it is not possible to determine the exact extent or degree of the trade off, this evidence suggests that a trade off between work and schooling exists for many children. This report is concerned about those children for whom this trade off is made in favor of work, what it costs them, and in exploring ways to tip the balance in favor of school. D. The Value of Investing in Children This report analyzes the benefits that accrue from withdrawing children from work and placing them in schools. As a humanitarian concern, few in the international community debate the need to address child labor. The recent unanimous adoption of ILO Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor reinforces this point. In this report, an economic consideration of child labor is provided. The report draws on economic data and studies that compare the costs and benefits of work as compared to those for schooling. As the report finds, the evidence generally supports the proposition that education is the best investment that can be made in children. Children stand to benefit, but so do their families, society, and the world through the mechanism of international trade. Moreover, removing children from the worst forms of child labor, such as sexual exploitation or forced and bonded labor, stands to bring even greater benefit given the loss suffered by children subjected to such abusive conditions. Despite these findings, working children continue to face formidable barriers in moving from work to school. The report examines these barriers and considers a variety of policies and strategies aimed at addressing them. Such efforts at the international, national, and local levels can play an important part in addressing the problem of exploitative child labor. The report also describes IPEC projects as examples of the kinds of targeted action that can be taken to address the various barriers faced by working children and their families. These projects seek to help specific groups of working children, but are also intended to serve as
models to promote broader action on child labor within countries. Since they are meant to serve as models for future action, evaluation of these efforts is critical for ensuring that the most effective are expanded or duplicated. IPEC is currently working with the support of the U.S. Department of Labor to enhance its evaluation process.
Child Labour
A girl working in the reconstruction effort carries a tile on her head in the city of Choluteca, Honduras.
An estimated 158 million children aged 5-14 are engaged in child labour - one in six children in the world. Millions of children are engaged in hazardous situations or conditions, such as working in mines, working with chemicals and pesticides in agriculture or working with dangerous machinery. They are everywhere but invisible, toiling as domestic servants in homes, labouring behind the walls of workshops, hidden from view in plantations.
In Sub-Saharan Africa around one in three children are engaged in child labour, representing 69 million children. In South Asia, another 44 million are engaged in child labour. The latest national estimates for this indicator are reported in Table 9 (Child Protection) of UNICEF's annual publication The State of the World's Children.
Children living in the poorest households and in rural areas are most likely to be engaged in child labour. Those burdened with household chores are overwhelmingly girls. Millions of girls who work as domestic servants are especially vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. Labour often interferes with children¶s education. Ensuring that all children go to school and that their education is of good quality are keys to preventing child labour.
Featuring the original photo captions by Lewis W. Hine
About these Photos
Faces of Lost Youth
Left - Furman Owens, 12 years old. Can't read. Doesn't know his A,B,C's. Said, "Yes I want to learn but can't when I work all the time." Been in the mills 4 years, 3 years in the Olympia Mill. Columbia, South Carolina. Mid - Adolescent girls from Bibb Mfg. Co. in Macon, Georgia. Right - Doffer boys. Macon, Georgia.
The Mill
Left - A general view of spinning room, Cornell Mill. Fall River, Massachusetts. Mid - A moment's glimpse of the outer world. Said she was 11 years old. Been working over a year. Rhodes Mfg. Co. Lincolnton, North Carolina Right - Some boys and girls were so small they had to climb up on to the spinning frame to mend broken threads and to put back the empty bobbins. Bibb Mill No. 1. Macon, Georgia.
Left - One of the spinners in Whitnel Cotton Mill. She was 51 inches high. Has been in the mill one year. Sometimes works at night. Runs 4 sides - 48 cents a day. When asked how old she was, she hesitated, then said, "I don't remember," then added confidentially, "I'm not old enough to work, but do just the same." Out of 50 employees, there were ten children about her size. Whitnel, North Carolina. Mid - The overseer said apologetically, "She just happened in." She was working steadily. The mills seem full of youngsters who "just happened in" or "are helping sister." Newberry, South Carolina. Right - Jo Bodeon, a back-roper in the mule room at Chace Cotton Mill. Burlington, Vermont.
Newsies
Left - A small newsie downtown on a Saturday afternoon. St. Louis, Missouri. Mid - A group of newsies selling on the Capitol steps. Tony, age 8, Dan, 9, Joseph, 10, and John, age 11. Washington, D.C. Right - Tony Casale, age 11, been selling 4 years. Sells sometimes until 10 p.m. His paper told me the boy had shown him the marks on his arm where his father had bitten him for not selling more papers. He (the boy) said, "Drunken men say bad words to us." Hartford, Connecticut.
Left - Out after midnight selling extras. There were many young boys selling very late. Youngest boy in the group is 9 years old. Harry, age 11, Eugene and the rest were a little older. Washington, D.C. Mid - Newsboy asleep on stairs with papers. Jersey City, New Jersey. Right - Michael McNelis, age 8, a newsboy [with photographer Hine]. This boy has just recovered from his second attack of pneumonia. Was found selling papers in a big rain storm. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Left - Francis Lance, 5 years old, 41 inches high. He jumps on and off moving trolley cars at the risk of his life. St. Louis, Missouri. Mid - Fighting is not unusual here. In the alley, 4 p.m. Rochester, New York. Right - Where the newsboy's money goes (an ice cream vendor). Wilmington, Delaware.
Miners
Left - At the close of day. Waiting for the cage to go up. The cage is entirely open on two sides and not very well protected on the other two, and is usually crowded like this. The small boy in front is Jo Puma. South Pittston, Pennsylvania. Mid - View of the Ewen Breaker of the Pennsylvania Coal Co. The dust was so dense at times as to obscure the view. This dust penetrated the utmost recesses of the boys' lungs. A kind of slave-driver sometimes stands over the boys, prodding or kicking them into obedience. South Pittston, Pennsylvania. Right - Harley Bruce, a young coupling-boy at Indian Mine. He appears to be 12 or 14 years old and says he has been working there about a year. It is hard work and dangerous. Near Jellico, Tennessee.
Left - Breaker boys, Hughestown Borough, Pennsylvania Coal Co. One of these is James Leonard, another is Stanley Rasmus. Pittston, Pennsylvania. Mid - A young driver in the Brown Mine. Has been driving one year. Works 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily. Brown, West Virginia. Right - Breaker boys. Smallest is Angelo Ross. Pittston, Pennsylvania.
The Factory
Left - View of the Scotland Mills, showing boys who work in the mill. Laurinburg, North Carolina. Mid - 9 p.m. in an Indiana Glass Works. Right - Some of the young knitters in London Hosiery Mills. London, Tennessee.
Left - Young cigar makers in Engelhardt & Co. Three boys looked under 14. Labor leaders told me in busy times many small boys and girls were employed. Youngsters all smoke. Tampa, Florida. Mid - Boys in the packing room at the Brown Mfg. Co. Evansville, Indiana. Right - Willie, a Polish boy, taking his noon rest in a doffer box at the Quidwick Co. Mill. Anthony, Rhode Island.
Left - Day scene. Wheaton Glass Works. Boy is Howard Lee. His mother showed me the family record in Bible which gave his birth as July 15, 1894. 15 years old now, but has been in glass works two years and some nights. Millville, New Jersey. Mid - A boy making melon baskets in a basket factory. Evansville, Indiana. Right - Rob Kidd, one of the young workers in a glass factory. Alexandria, Virginia.
Seafood Workers
Left - Oyster shuckers working in a canning factory. All but the very smallest babies work. Began work at 3:30 a.m. and expected to work until 5 p.m. The little girl in the center was working. Her mother said she is "a real help to me." Dunbar, Louisiana. Mid - Shrimp pickers, including little 8-year-old Max on the right. Biloxi, Mississippi. Right - Johnnie, a 9year-old oyster shucker. Man with pipe behind him is a Padrone who has brought these people from Baltimore for four years. He is the boss of the shucking shed. Dunbar, Louisiana.
Left - Manuel the young shrimp picker, age 5, and a mountain of child labor oyster shells behind him. He worked last year. Understands not a word of English. Biloxi, Mississippi. Mid - Cutting fish in a sardine cannery. Large sharp knives are used with a cutting and sometimes chopping motion. The slippery floors and benches and careless bumping into each other increase the liability of accidents. "The salt water gits into the cuts and they ache," said one boy. Eastport, Maine. Right - Hiram Pulk, age 9, working in a canning company. "I ain't very fast only about 5 boxes a day. They pay about 5 cents a box," he said. Eastport, Maine.
Field and Farm Work
Left - Camille Carmo, age 7, and Justine, age 9. The older girl picks about 4 pails a day. Rochester, Massachusetts. Mid - Three boys, one of 13 yrs., two of 14 yrs., picking shadegrown tobacco on Hackett Farm. The "first picking" necessitates a sitting posture. Buckland, Connecticut. Right - Six-year-old Warren Frakes. Mother said he picked 41 pounds yesterday "An I don't make him pick; he picked some last year." Has about 20 pounds in his bag. Comanche County, Oklahoma.
Left - Twelve-year-old Lahnert boy topping beets. The father, mother, and two boys (9 and 12 yrs.) expect to make $700 in about 2 months time in the beet work. "The boys can keep up with me all right, and all day long," the father said. Begin at 6 a.m. and work until 6 p.m. with an hour off at noon. Fort Collins, Colorado. Mid - Eight-year-old Jack driving a horse rake. A small boy has difficulty keeping his seat on rough ground and this work is more or less dangerous. Western Massachusetts. Right - Norris Luvitt. Been picking 3 years in berry fields near Baltimore.
Little Salesmen
Left - After 9 p.m., 7-year-old Tommie Nooman demonstrating the advantages of the Ideal Necktie Form in a store window on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. His father
said, "He is the youngest demonstrator in America. Has been doing it for several years from San Francisco to New York. We stay a month or six weeks in a place. He works at it off and on." Remarks from the bystanders were not having the best effect on Tommie. Mid - Joseph Severio, peanut vender, age 11 [seen with photographer Hine]. Been pushing a cart 2 years. Out after midnight on May 21, 1910. Ordinarily works 6 hours per day. Works of his own volition. All earnings go to his father. Wilmington, Delaware. Right - In business for himself. Boston, Massachusetts.
A Variety of Jobs
Left - A Bowery bootblack in New York City. Mid - Bowling Alley boys. Many of them work setting pins until past midnight. New Haven, Connecticut. Right - George Christopher, Postal Telegraph, age 14. Been at it over 3 years. Does not work nights. Nashville, Tennessee.
Left - A boy carrying hats in New York City. Mid - Young boys working for Hickok Lumber Co. Burlington, Vermont. Right - Three young boys with shovels standing in the doorway of a Fort Worth & Denver train car.
Struggling Families
Left - A Jewish family and neighbors working until late at night sewing garters. This happens several nights a week when there is plenty of work. The youngest work until 9 p.m. The others until 11 p.m. or later. On the left is Mary, age 7, and 10-year-old Sam, and next to the mother is a 12-year-old boy. On the right are Sarah, age 7, next is her 11-year-old sister, 13year-old brother. Father is out of work and also helps make garters. New York City. Mid - A family working in the Tifton Cotton Mill. Four smallest children not working yet. The mother said she earns $4.50 a week and all the children earn $4.50 a week. Husband died and left her with 11 children. Two of them went off and got married. The family left the farm two years ago to work in the mill. Tifton, Georgia. Right - Picking nuts in dirty basement. The dirtiest imaginable children were pawing over the nuts and eating lunch on the table. Mother had a cold and blew her nose frequently (without washing her hands) and the dirty handkerchiefs reposed comfortably on table close to the nuts and nut meats. The father picks now. New York City.
Pastimes and Vices
Left - Killing time. Mill boys and men hanging around Swift's Pool Room, Saturday p.m. A common sight any day. Educational influences; bad stories and remarks ± will not bear repetition. Fall River, Massachusetts. Mid - Messengers absorbed in their usual game of poker in the "Den of the terrible nine" (the waiting room for Western Union Messengers). They play for money. Some lose a whole month's wages in a day and then are afraid to go home. The boy on the right has been a messenger for 4 years. Began at 12 years of age. He works all night now. During an evening's conversation he told me stories about his experiences with prostitutes to whom he carries messages frequently. Hartford, Connecticut. Right - Juvenile Court. An 8-year-old boy charged with stealing a bicycle. St. Louis, Missouri.
Left - A group of newsies playing craps in the jail alley at 10 p.m. Albany, New York. Mid 11 a.m. Newsies at Skeeter's Branch. They were all smoking. St. Louis, Missouri.. Right Richard Pierce, age 14, a Western Union Telegraph Co. messenger. Nine months in service, works from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Smokes and visits houses of prostitution. Wilmington, Delaware.
Group Portraits
Left - Getting working papers in New York City. Mid - Children on the night shift going to work at 6 p.m. on a cold, dark December day. They do not come out again until 6 a.m. When they went home the next morning they were all drenched by a heavy, cold rain and had few or no wraps. Two of the smaller girls with three other sisters work on the night shift and support a big, lazy father who complains he is not well enough to work. He loafs around the country store. The oldest three of these sisters have been in the mill for 7 years, and the two youngest for two years. The latter earns 84 cents a night. Whitnel, North Carolina. Right Some of the workers in the Farrand Packing Co. Baltimore, Maryland.
Left - At 5 p.m., boys going home from Monougal Glass Works. One boy remarked, "De place is lousey wid kids." Fairmont, West Virginia. Mid - A few of the young workers in the Beaumont Mill. Spartenburg, South Carolina. Right - Fish cutters at a canning company in Maine. Ages range from 7 to 12. They live near the factory. The 7-year-old boy in front, Byron Hamilton, has a badly cut finger but helps his brother regularly. Behind him is his brother George, age 11, who cut his finger half off while working. Ralph, on the left, displays his knife and also a badly cut finger. They and many youngsters said they were always cutting themselves. George earns a dollar some days usually 75 cents. Some of the others say they earn a dollar when they work all day. At times they start at 7 a.m. and work all day until midnight.
