explaining variation in child labour estimates claudia cappa, statistics and monitoring section,...
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Explaining variation in child labour estimates
Claudia Cappa, Statistics and Monitoring Section, UNICEF [email protected]
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 estimatesDifferent global estimates
Differences in child labour estimatesCh
ildre
n 10
-14
in e
cono
mic
activ
ity
Child
ren
10-1
4 in
eco
nom
ic ac
tivity
Child
ren
10-1
4 in
eco
nom
ic ac
tivity
Child
ren
10-1
4 in
eco
nom
ic ac
tivity
Child
ren
5-17
in e
cono
mic
activ
ity
Child
ren
5-14
in ch
ild la
bour
(UNI
CEF
defin
ition
)
Child
ren
10-1
4 in
eco
nom
ic ac
tivity
Child
ren
10-1
4 in
eco
nom
ic ac
tivity
SIMPOC 2002/03 DHS 2004 SIMPOC 1998/99 MICS 2000 Federal Office of Statistics/SIMPOC
2001
MICS 2007 SIMPOC 2005 DHS 2005
Bangladesh Kenya Nigeria Senegal
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
26.1
11.28
44
13
29
22
35
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
Age group
General production boundary
SNA production Non-SNA production
Light work
Regular
work
Worst forms of child labor Hazardous
unpaid household
services
Other
non-SNA production
Hazardous work Worst forms of child labor other than hazardous
work
Children 5–11 years of age
NA Any activity even for at least
one hour
Employment for 43 hrs or more per
week or under hazardous conditions
Children trafficked for work; forced
and bonded child labor; commercial sexual exploitation of children; use of children for illicit
activities and armed conflict
Hours threshold?
Household chores that are not hazardous
Children 12–14 years of age
Less than 14 hrs/week
14 or more hrs/week
Hours threshold?
Children 15–17 years of age
Less than 43 hrs/week
43 or more hrs/week
Hours threshold?
In bold: Denote activities that are considered child labor. Reference: adapted from Dayioglu (2012).
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 firewoodon 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 aged 5-11
Less than 1 hour
Children aged 5-111-13 hours
Children aged 5-1114+ hours
Children aged 12-14Less than 1
hour
Children aged 12-141-13 hours
Children aged 12-1414+ 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
Children engaged in fetching water/collecting firewood, by age groups and by hours
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
