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childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and that is mentally, physically,
socially or morally dangerous and harmful.[3] This practice is considered exploitative by
many international organisations. Legislations across the world prohibit child labour.[4][5] These laws
do not consider all work by children as child labour; exceptions include work by child artists,
supervised training, certain categories of work such as those by Amish children, some forms of child
work common among indigenous American children, and others.[6][7][8]
Child labour was employed to varying extents through most of history. Before 1940, numerous
children aged 514 worked in Europe, the United States and various colonies of European powers.
These children worked in agriculture, home-based assembly operations, factories, mining and in
services such as newsies. Some worked night shifts lasting 12 hours. With the rise of household
income, availability of schools and passage of child labour laws, the incidence rates of child labour
fell.[9][10][11]
In developing countries, with high poverty and poor schooling opportunities, child labour is still
prevalent. In 2010, sub-saharan Africa had the highest incidence rates of child labour, with several
African nations witnessing over 50 percent of children aged 514 working. [12] Worldwide agriculture is
the largest employer of child labour.[13] Vast majority of child labour is found in rural settings and
informal urban economy; children are predominantly employed by their parents, rather than
factories.[14] Poverty and lack of schools are considered as the primary cause of child labour.[15]
The incidence of child labour in the world decreased from 25% to 10% between 1960 and 2003,
according to the World Bank.[16]Nevertheless, the total number of child labourers remains high,
with UNICEF and ILO acknowledging an estimated 168 million children aged 517 worldwide, were
involved in child labour in 2013.[
The United States has passed a law that allows Amish children older than 14 to work in traditional wood enterprises
with proper supervision.
In addition to setting the international law, the United Nations initiated International Program on the
Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) in 1992.[83] This initiative aims to progressively eliminate child
labour through strengthening national capacities to address some of the causes of child labour.
Amongst the key initiative is the so-called time bounded program countries, where child labour is
most prevalent and schooling opportunities lacking. The initiative seeks to achieve amongst other
things, universal primary school availability. The IPEC has expanded to at least the following target
countries: Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Democratic
Republic of Congo, El Salvador, Nepal, Tanzania, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Philippines,
Senegal, South Africa and Turkey.
Targeted child labour campaigns were initiated by the International Programme on the Elimination of
Child Labour (IPEC) in order to advocate for prevention and elimination of all forms of child labour.
The global Music against Child Labour Initiative was launched in 2013 in order to involve socially
excluded children in structured musical activity and education in efforts to help protect them from
child labour.[84]
India has legislation since 1986 which allows work by children in non-hazardous industry. In 2013,
the Punjab and Haryana High Court gave a landmark order that directed that there shall be total ban
on the employment of children up to the age of 14 years, be it hazardous or non-hazardous
industries. However, the Court ruled that a child can work with his or her family in family based
trades/occupations, for the purpose of learning a new trade/craftsmanship or vocation
Statistics
Number of children involved in ILO categories of work, by age and
gender in 2002
Ages
All
Economically
Children
Active
('000s)
Children
(2002)[144]
('000s)
Economically
Active
Children (%)
Child
Child
Labour Labour
('000s)
(%)
Children In
Children In
Hazardous
Hazardous
Work ('000s)
Work (%)
838,800
109,700
13.1
109,700 13.1
60,500
7.2
360,600
101,100
28.0
76,000
50,800
14.1
1,199,400 210,800
17.6
186,300 15.5
111,300
9.3
332,100
140,900
42.4
59,200
17.8
59,200
17.8
Boys 786,600
184,100
23.4
132,200 16.8
95,700
12.2
Girls 744,900
167,600
22.5
113,300 15.2
74,800
10.5
23.0
245,500 16.0
170,500
11.1
511
Ages
12
21.1
14
Ages
514
Ages
15
17
and
Focus on general development programmes for the benefit of the families of child labour;
In pursuance of this policy, the Government is implementing National Child Labour Project
(NCLP) in 266 districts of the country for rehabilitation of children rescued/withdrawn from work.
Under the Project, children rescued/withdrawn from work are enrolled in the special schools,
where they are provided with bridge education, vocational training, nutrition, stipend, health care,
etc. before being mainstreamed into formal education system.
The Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act was enacted in 1988 which prohibits the
employment of children in 18 occupations and 65 processes and regulates the working conditions
of children in employment where they are not prohibited from working. The employment of
children as Domestic servant and in Dhabas, restaurants, tea stalls, etc. has been banned w.e.f.
10.10.2006.
Depreciation in wages
HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases are rife among the
one million children forced into prostitution every year; pregnancy,
drug addiction and mental illness are also common among child
prostitutes
Conclusions
While child-labor laws enjoy strong support among politicians around the world
their popularity among economists is limited. In this paper we have, within the
context of various extensions of the neoclassical growth model, identified conditions
under which such legislation is not, and conditions under which such
legislation may be desirable. Since we came to the conclusion that child-labor
legislation tends to be at most a poor substitute for more direct policies addressing
underlying economic inefficiencies we then delved into the realm of political
economics to explain the persistence of child-labor legislation. Indeed, we found
that if children and adults compete in the labor market, adult workers have an
incentive to lobby for the abolition of child labor. This incentive will be especially
powerful for workers who face labor-market competition from children, but do
not rely on child labor income in their own family. The political-economy approach
can account for a number of features of real-world child-labor legislation,
such as the widespread introduction of restrictions right after an expansion of
education
lessened dependency on child labor income, and the fact that restrictions
usually extend only to formal employment, but not to child labor in the context
of traditional family-based agriculture.
An alternative explanation for why child-labor laws abound is that it is politically
advantageous for politicians to impose them, and it is inconsequential for the
economy if these laws are not enforced effectively. We have ignored the issue of
law enforcement altogether here, always implicitly assuming that enforcement of
child-labor legislation is perfect. In addition to developing the political-economy
approach to child-labor legislation further, we view the enforcement issue as a
fruitful field for future research.