Exploitation of child labor: a losing battle, especially in Africa

A report released yesterday by UNICEF and the International Labor Organization shows that even before the coronavirus pandemic shocked the world, progress in the fight against child labor around the world had stopped. Katharian Buchholz of Statista reports that in early 2020 there were once again 160 million children between the ages of 5 and 17 engaged in inappropriate and / or dangerous jobs. The new number marks an increase from around 152 million in 2016.

While child labor in Asia and Latin America has declined, it has returned to growth in sub-Saharan Africa, in absolute and relative terms. While in 2016, 22.4 percent of children between the ages of 5 and 17 were involved in child labor in the region, that number had risen to nearly 24 percent by early 2020. The global share of 9.6 percent of children involved in child labor remained the same between 2016 and 2020, showing that as the rise in child labor was in line with global population growth, the burden shifted between regions.

The report also reveals that one of the most common images of child labor in developing countries – kids working for wages in factory departments – is actually the less common scenario. Child labor in industry stands at around 10% globally, surpassed by service sector work (around 20%) and the most common field for child labor, agriculture (70%). 72% of child laborers work with their families.

While child labor in Africa is essentially agricultural, that in South America and Asia, on the other hand, involves the manufacturing and service sectors more, even if, in any case, child labor remains prevalent.

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The article Exploitation of child labor: a losing battle, especially in Africa comes from ScenariEconomici.it .

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This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/sfruttamento-del-lavoro-dei-minori-una-battaglia-persa-soprattutto-in-africa/ on Tue, 15 Jun 2021 10:00:14 +0000.