Child Labor and the Global Economy
Do Children Stifle World Economic Growth?
What is the true influence of child labor on the globalized work force? Do children sway the value of work on a planetary scale?
Child labor is probably the second oldest profession. Not all child labor is negative (doing chores at home, having a lemonade stand, etc.) Yet when Child Labor is talked about with respect to Globalization, negative connotations of sweat shops and 18 hour days come to mind. Many articles have been written on this negative aspect of labor but they tend to focus on how many children work, the personal economic aspects of working children, the social impact of working children and locations where children work. This article will examine the simple question: why do children work?
According to the International Labor Organization, 200 million children between 5 and 17 “go to work instead of school.” The American AFL-CIO states that “171 million children are engaged in hazardous work...” If we ignore the 8.4 million engaged in slavery, prostitution and forced military service and concentrated on those under the age of 15; this group consists of 111 million children working around the world.
The numbers are a source of constant argument. In India alone the Labor Ministry revealed that “…44 million children in the 5-14 age groups are in the labour force.” However, the exact numbers are irrelevant for our discussion. There are two fundamental questions that must be asked: What would a child do in the absence of work? What role does the availability of labor play in child labor – Labor Demand?
Work
The standard argument is that poverty breeds child labor. If a child is removed from the poverty cycle, via labor, the child will experience (via superiors) a world conducive to education and advancement. “Parents allow their children to work because many Chinese feel school doesn't provide skills that have immediate or realistic advantages. Many poor families cannot afford the expenses of school, and the children go to work in order to support the family. Work is often seen as more beneficial than school.”*
Fallacy
“The Compulsory Education Law…states that all children…must go to school….However, the government…allows privately owned industrial or commercial firms…[to] hire children….ten percent of Chinese children hold full time jobs instead of going to school.”**
“The [Indian] NFE system has…low paid, ill trained teachers, working in an atmosphere not particularly conductive to learning for working children….”.
According to the November 8th 2006 article by the Canadian Council on Learning: “Play enhances every aspect of children’s development and learning. It is children’s window to the world.” One can deduce, from the article, that work does nothing to endear the child to the world but perpetuate that world the child's parents and local society subscribe too.
Labor Demand
In the Worker Exploitation article we saw that proponents of globalization state “The developed nation’s corporations can produce cheaper good and services overseas.” The detractors argue: “Corporations are free to evade civil and national responsibilities to the detriment of all nations.”
As stated in a November 2004 report by Eric Edmonds of Dartmouth College “Myths and Realities of Globalization: “During the 1990s, Vietnam liberalized restrictions on…trade in rice. Pre-liberalization 26 percent of children 6-15 worked directly in rice cultivation…” By 2000 “….Child labor declined even though earnings opportunities grew for children, because the effect of income dominates the growth in [adult national] labor demand.”
This research shows, as child labor is removed from the labor pool, incomes (adult income) increase. As long as child labor is available, as stated in the Indian and Chinese reports, adult labor will remain repressed.
Children will naturally play rather than work. They will learn rather than work. The national income will flow to the lowest common denominator which is the lowest unskilled worker – the child. National prejudices and unintelligent thoughts will prevail as long as multinational corporations perpetuate bottom line global economics. As long as that is enabled, child labor will continue to reduce the global adult economy and children will work because the global markets dictate it.
* Wang, L. (1988). Child Labor Causes Concern. Beijing Review, 33, 42
** Gilley, B. (1996). Following the Money: China's Growth Spurt Tempts Children into Jobs. Far Eastern Review, 159
