Explaining variation in child labour
estimates
Claudia Cappa, Statistics and Monitoring Section, UNICEF NY
ccappa@unicef.org
Objectives
• Review concepts, definitions, data sources
and measurement tools
• Describe some of the methodological
challenges related to the measurement of
child labour
• Present current and planned activities in this
area
Background
• Legal standards define the problem and the underlying
concepts in general terms
• Child labourers: children who are too young to work and
children involved in work potentially harmful to their
physical,
psychological,
social
or
educational
development
• Difference between child labour and child work
• Currently there is no internationally accepted measure of
child labour
• Controversial elements: how to quantify harm/hazard
Parameters for measuring child labour
• Age of the child : 5-11, 12-14, 15-17
• Type of activities (economic, unpaid household services,
worst forms of child labour other than hazardous work)
• Intensity of work (i.e. average number of hours spent in a
week)
• Working conditions (heavy loads, confined spaces,
dust/fumes, etc.)
Work activities
• Economic activity = any paid or unpaid work for
someone who is not a member of the household or
work for a family farm or business (1993 UN System
of National Accounts – activities included in GDP)
• Unpaid household services (household chores) =
cooking, cleaning, washing, shopping and caring for
children, old or sick people
Differences between UNICEF and ILO
Nature of the differences
• Differences in questionnaire (content, structure
and respondents)
• Differences in operational definitions/indicators
• Differences in reporting
• Differences in implementation protocols and
technical assistance
Different country estimates
Different global estimates
Differences in child labour estimates
60
50
44
40
35
29
30
26.1
22
20
13
11.2
10
8
0
Children 10-14 in
economic activity
Children 10-14 in
economic activity
Children 10-14 in
economic activity
Children 10-14 in
economic activity
SIMPOC 2002/03
DHS 2004
SIMPOC 1998/99
MICS 2000
Bangladesh
Kenya
Children 5-17 in
Children 5-14 in
Children 10-14 in
economic activity child labour (UNICEF economic activity
definition)
Federal Office of
Statistics/SIMPOC
2001
Nigeria
MICS 2007
Children 10-14 in
economic activity
SIMPOC 2005
Senegal
DHS 2005
UNICEF’S and ILO’s standard definitions
• UNICEF = involvement in unpaid household services and/or in
economic activities
-
Children aged 5–11 years engaged in at least 1 hour of economic work or 28 hours of
domestic work per week
Children aged 12–14 years engaged in at least 14 hours of economic work or 28 hours of
domestic work per week
Children aged 15-17 years engaged in at least 43 hours of economic work or domestic work
per week
Children of any age in hazardous working conditions
• ILO = involvement in economic activities only
-
Children aged 5–11 years engaged in at least 1 hour of economic work
Children aged 12–14 years engaged in at least 14 hours of economic work
Children aged 15-17 years engaged in at least 43 hours of economic work
Children of any age in hazardous working conditions
Framework for the statistical identification of child labor
General production boundary
SNA production
Worst forms of child labor
Age group
Light
work
Children 5–11
years of age
Children 12–14
years of age
Children 15–17
years of age
Non-SNA production
Regular
work
NA
Any
activity
even for
at least
one hour
Less than 14 or
14
more
hrs/week hrs/week
Less than 43 or
43
more
hrs/week hrs/week
Hazardous work
Worst forms of
child labor other
than hazardous
work
Employment for Children trafficked
43 hrs or more per for work; forced
week or under and bonded child
hazardous
labor; commercial
conditions
sexual exploitation
of children; use of
children for illicit
activities and
armed conflict
In bold: Denote activities that are considered child labor. Reference: adapted from Dayioglu (2012).
Hazardous
Other
unpaid
non-SNA
household production
services
Hours
Household
threshold? chores that
are not
hazardous
Hours
threshold?
Hours
threshold?
SIMPOC surveys
• Commissioned by governments and implemented
with technical support from ILO
• Not conducted at regular intervals
• Some 60 surveys conducted so far since 1993
• Use
module
questionnaire
(with
country
adaptations) but national definitions of child labour
used to calculate prevalence
The case of Rwanda: national definition
• Child Labour Survey of 2008
• Child labourers: children aged 5-17 in economic activities before
the minimum age of admission to employment (16 years of age)
• NOT included (regardless of the intensity of work): children
helping parents around the house, assisting in a family business
or earning pocket money outside school hours and during school
holidays
• Applying the national definition, only 6.6% of children aged 5-17
years were considered child labourers
Impact of fetching water/collecting firewood
on child labour estimates
Background
• Fetching water and collecting firewood included in the
UN System of National Accounts (SNA) as economic
activities (1993, Statistical Commission)
• MICS3 = fetching water or collecting firewood as
household chores (at least 28 hours per week)
• MICS4 = fetching water or collecting firewood as
economic activities (at least 1/14 hours per week)
• New estimates also recalculated for DHS surveys that
used MICS4 modules (Burkina Faso, Burundi, Rwanda)
Children engaged in fetching water/collecting firewood,
by age groups and by hours
Children
aged 5-11
Less than 1
hour
Children
aged 5-11
1-13 hours
Children
aged 5-11
14+ hours
Children
aged 12-14
Less than 1
hour
Children
aged 12-14
1-13 hours
Children
aged 12-14
14+ hours
Burundi
(DHS 2010)
27.5
63.7
8.9
18.0
66.5
15.5
Rwanda
(DHS 2010)
63.3
31.7
5.0
32.4
51.3
16.4
Current and planned activities
• New module questionnaire for MICS5 (background
data analyses, testing)
• Data analysis on household chores and impacts on
education to support threshold for household chores
• Data analysis on fetching water and collecting firewood
• Preparatory meeting with ILO
• ICLS 2013
Thank you
ccappa@unicef.org