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Determinants of Child Labor

There are numerous factors, which force children into child labor, and they can be broadly categorized as poverty-related factors and non-poverty factors. Poverty-related factors are related to money supply in the households, while non-poverty related factors are various other social / parental factors, which contribute to child labor.
Though conventionally, poverty has been assumed to be the primary factor behind child labor, recent research has shown the significance of non-poverty related factors in determining child labor in developing countries. In the following sections, we will be analyzing both of these factors and the recent research done regarding some of the above-mentioned factors.

Non-poverty Factors

The major non-poverty factors, which lead to increase in child labor in developing countries, are parental attitude towards children, education level of parents, balance of power in households, number of siblings, gender, proximity of school, cost of education, etc. It has been found that greater parental concern for children reduces the chances of child labor, and it has been supported by Sakamoto (2006) in his research, where he measured parental concern using the amount of money spent on children's clothing in the household as a parameter. Easy access to a school in the neighborhood, presence of Aanganwadi centers (they help in reducing domestic work for children) in the neighborhood as well as societal influence has also been found to have a significant influence in decreasing the incidence of child labor in the locality. Also, parental education has a largely positive effect on school attendance, which in turn implies reduction in child labor (as work and school can be assumed to be mutually exclusive in nature).

Gender also determines the probability of a child being sent for labor as well as the type of work he/she is subjected to, as shown by Hazarika (2006) as well as Sakamoto (2006). Further, children in father-dominated families are more likely to be sent for work, thus, underlying the significance of gender bias within families also, in addition to the work place.

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Dr. Shreyas Goswami and Vineet Jain are the First Year MBA (BM) Students at XLRI, Jamshedpur. While Shreyas is a Doctor by profession, Vineet is a Civil Engineer from Delhi College of Engineering, Delhi University.