Child Labor: A Review

May 1995 Legislation against child labor, even if it could be enforced, is not the only (or even the best) way to tackle the issue. Child labor legislation must be combined with targeted social and economic incentives (such as for schooling) together with equitable economic growth. On September 30, 1990, the first World Summit for Children promised to reduce child mortality and malnutrition. It set targets to be reached by the year 2000. Although it established no explicit goals on child labor, the targets included basic education for all children and the completion of primary education by at least 80 percent of children. Meeting these goals will reduce child labor, say Grootaert and Kanbur. The evidence they review shows that education interventions play a key role in reducing child labor and should play a key role in its eventual abolition. But other interventions are also needed, including legislative action, appropriate labor market policies, fertility interventions, the adoption of technology, and better job opportunities for parents. There must also be advocates for better conditions for working children and for the empowerment of children and their families. An encouraging consensus is emerging -- both in the literature and in the policies of international agencies concerned with child labor -- that action, to be effective, must aim first to protect children and improve their living and working conditions. This implies a less stigmatized view of child labor, and the recognition that child labor itself can be used as a targeting device to help children through health, nutrition, schooling, and other interventions. In the long term, the objective of eliminating child labor must be approached through legislative action combined with social and economic incentives that take into account not only the types of child labor and child labor arrangements in a country but that country's institutional and administrative capacity. This paper -- a product of the Office of the Vice President, Development Economics -- is one in a series of background papers prepared for World Development Report 1995 on labor. Christiaan Grootaert may be contacted at cgrootaert@worldbank.org.