University of Nueva Caceres

College of Business and Accountancy

City of Naga

NAME: Renalyn V. Francisco

CODE: Economic Development 2094
COURSE: BS Accountancy

Child Labor in Relation to Human Capital

PHILIPPINES AND AFRICA

Child labor is one of the major concerns globally. Child labor, as defined by the International
Labour Organization (ILO), is work that deprives children of their childhood, potential, and dignity,
and is harmful to their physical and mental development. The International Labour Organization

estimates that there are approximately 265 million working children worldwide, accounting for nearly
17 percent of the global child population (Ortiz-Ospina and Roser, 2020). Children and their parents
in many low-income countries will have to choose between schooling and productive work. Thus , if
there are positive human capital returns in child labor, children who receive greater early life
investments may attend less school.
The Philippines and Africa are among the countries where child labor is prevalent. According to a
study in 2011, an estimated 2.1 million Filipino children between the ages of 5 and 17 work as child
laborers. This equates to approximately 2.6 percent of the 26.6 million people of the same age. The
1995, 2001, and 2011 studies also revealed that males outnumber females in child labor. While
Africa has had the highest rate of child labor over the years. An estimated of 41% children on the
continent are economically active at work. Furthermore, studies in both the Philippines and Africa
have revealed that males are the dominant gender when it comes to child labor and are living in rural
areas. The reasons for the global prevalence of child labor are poverty and rapid population growth.
In the study of Aldaba, Lanzona, and Tamangan (2004) discussed the determinants of child
labor, which are classified as either economic or sociocultural, in their study on the empirical analysis
of the trade-off between schooling and child labor in the Philippines. Children are forced or pressured
to work as a result of poverty, which interferes with their education and exposes them to health risks.
Some children choose to work and study at the same time, but this has an impact on their school

attendance. Others are forced to drop out of school due to time constraints at work. In relation to
poverty, the lack or absence of economic opportunities in the household’s localities urges the family
to let their children do work at an early age. Another factor to consider when determining why
children who work have lower school attendance is the distance between schools and the child's
place of work.
 Child labor is considered as a market violation from the standpoint of the labor market. However,
in the Philippines, child labor is primarily used as a short-term coping mechanism for poor families
during times of crisis. Because of a lack of or weak social protection programs in the community, the
child is seen as insurance during a desperate situation. In terms of social capital, child labor is
constantly increasing and becoming more severe as a result of social irresponsibility and adult
abuses of children.
On the other hand, Canagarajah and Nielsen (1999) discovered that in rural areas in Africa,
there are more children who work and a high rate of non-school attendance, whereas in urban areas,

children can work and attend school at the same time. The study found that the underlying causes of
child labor are not poverty, but rather family tradition and access to education. Because religious
groups differed in their use of child labor and likelihood of educating children, it was discovered that
traditions and attitudes were important. Additionally, the education of the parent or head of the

household is also linked to child labor. Only girls with mothers who had completed secondary school
worked less.
According to statistics, both Africa and the Philippines have a large number of child laborers.
And child labor has an impact on children's school attendance because the more physically
demanding the work is and the more time they spend at work, the less likely they are to attend
school. It also reduces the amount of time children have for rest and recreation. Thus, child labor has

a direct impact on human capital because a n hour spent at work is an hour lost in the time
investment required to develop human capital.
One important finding is that poverty is a necessary but not sufficient determinant of child labor.
In this view, the key factor that can be a possible way to eliminate or mitigate child labor is to create
more opportunities for household heads to generate more income, particularly in communities where
there are insufficient resources to be used as a source of income. Furthermore, in the Philippines, we
have existing programs that help reduce poverty and assist poor families in supporting their children's
attendance at school, the best example of which is our Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, also
known as the 4P's produced by DSWD to assist less fortunate households in the community. In
terms of education, we have this K-12 program that allows K-12 learners to acquire advanced skills
and knowledge that may help them find work immediately after completing the K-12 program. The
advantages of this program is that it allows a person to get a job even without attending tertiary
education.
 Moreover, improving the community's basic needs, particularly in terms of health, is important
because, according to Rosati et al. (2015), the major concern for child laborers in a human capital
perspective is their health. There are at least 84 percent hazardous risks at work, 26 percent of

working long hours, and 16 percent of working at night, all of which cause children to become
disabled or ill. And the most important way to reduce child labor is to end the culture of being a child
laborer that has been passed down through generations; it does not help us to grow economically;
instead, it leads to more unskilled workers and low wages, making us poorer.
Child labor is a product of poverty and a means of survival, particularly for poor families, but it
deprives children of the joy of being children; it robs children of their childhood and forces them to
mature faster while stunting their physical growth.

REFERENCES:

[1] Nelson, GL. & Quiton, J. (2018). Child Labor and Its Effects on Schooling, Health, Recreation of
Filipino Children. Journal of Population and Social Studies. 26 [1]. pp 68 – 82.
http://dx.doi.org/10.25133/JPSSv26n1.006

[2] Aldaba, F., Lanzona, L., & Tamangan, R.(2004). An Empirical Analysis on the Trade-off between
Schooling and Child Labor in the Philippines. Philippine Journal of Development. 31 [2].
https://dirp4.pids.gov.ph/ris/pjd/pidspjd04-2childlabor.pdf

[3] Bau, N., Rotemberg, M., Shah, M., & Steinberg, B.(2020). Human Capital Investment in the
Presence of Child Labor. National Bureau of Economic Research.
https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w27241/w27241.pdf

[4] ILO. Child Labor in Africa. International Labour Office.https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---

ed_norm/---declaration/documents/publication/wcms_decl_fs_37_en.pdf?
fbclid=IwAR2hRH8H1axu1ScbjmPLUcGhKDQ9QIK4dqag3TiGxTUaZ9oszrEe3oLh534

[5] Edmonds, E. (2016). Economic Growth and Child Labor in Low Income Economies. GLM|LIC
Synthesis Paper No. 3. https://g2lm-lic.iza.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/glmlic_sp003.pdf?
fbclid=IwAR2eO0Npd3nh7BM6H12qbQr8qHrHyhe6UT3tMK0avaSMKVr1cfkcHP3LHmY

[6] Canagarajah, S., & Nielsen, H. S. (2001). Child Labor in Africa: A Comparative Study. The Annals
of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 575, 71–91.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1049181