Child Labor and Economic Development - Report Example

Child Labor and Economic Development Introduction Child labor has been common to many nations particularly those that belong to the third world countries, since the last two hundred years when Factories Act of 1802 was enacted. Today, the rough estimate of child laborer is about 186 millions all over the world. The biggest share of huge child laborer came from the third world countries where poverty is rampant and access to education is difficult. Even in highly industrialized countries, there are kids being forced to work either to feed their personal needs, or help augment the family's meager financial budget or worse, they are the bread winner for some reasons. In the third world countries, most children engaged in child labor have become literally the bread winner of the family. There were variety of reasons for this but the most common is poverty. Children who were supposed to be inside the classroom learning and preparing themselves to have better tomorrow, or that they are enjoying their natural rights to play with other children or helping family chores at home by their own sense of responsibility and initiative, are now being laden with works which and most of the time beyond their capacity. Their young bodies are not prepared yet for such burden. The irony is that, we adults or the society in general seems to tolerate this malpractice of child labor. There are even business establishments that deliberately hire young children, sending them to work in factories often with very poorly working conditions. Ventilations are not sufficient giving more hazard to these young laborers. In the third world countries, this is common, and children who are working at their young age are usually considered lucky or privilege since employment is difficult for adults. Thus, when one member of the family gets a job, regardless of age, it is an opportunity. But what does this reflect the society This paper aims to answer what child labor reflects on economic development. It will also attempt to answer three things: the rise of child labor, the economic consequences of child labor, and, policies that can help put an end to child labor. Professor Glen Perusek reported a case of child labor in the Strait of Malacca which is known as Jermals. This report is one of the extreme cases of child labor that was recorded (Child Labor in the World Economy). "Conditions on the jermals are abysmal. The structures are flexible, to be able to absorb the shock of the sea during storms. Nausea is a common complaint. Not only do children haul in the nets, sort and boil fish, they must also cook their own meals. Children, the report says, "are given little food, of poor quality" and no variety to speak of. Nearly every meal consists of rice with fish. Only once every two months are there fresh vegetables. Children are so desperate for food that they will "submit to (homo)sexual relations with one of the older workers" for extra rations. The working hours leave children chronically short of sleep. "Worse than almost anything else is the misery caused by lack of sleep. Some foremen pour boiling water on children who inadvertently doze at their post or fail to wake promptly when summoned." There are no beds for the children on the Jermals -- this privilege is reserved for the foremen, often the only adults on board. Instead, children sleep on damp board floors or in makeshift shelters on the shanty roof, or on beds of brown paper. Causes of Child Labor Child labor has many causes but the main driving force of child labor is poverty due to unemployment. According to Basu and Tzannatos, "the role of poverty has been the cornerstone of a lot of thinking regarding child labor"(Basu and Tzannatos, p.15). This is best explained through the two crucial assumptions such as the luxury axiom and the substitution axiom wherein child labor is connected with poverty although there are some distinctions between the two as the level of poverty is to be measured. Luxury axiom "asserts that household sends their children to work only when driven to do so by poverty" (Basu & Tzannatos, p.2) On the other hand, substitution axiom "asserts that adult and child labor are substitute"(Basu & Tzannatos, p.3). Usually, substitute axiom takes place when the wage drops below subsistent consumption; and therefore, "parents would likely to be sent out to in an effort to reach the target acceptable level of income"(Basu & Tzannatos, p.4). Another factor for the existence of child labor has something to do with the economic policies being implemented in the country; the consideration for these policies is usually dictated by the drive of making the economy stable and progressive. In the midst of economic crises, the business sector take actions in order to survive without considering its effect on ordinary people. In one report as what Cosby observed, he said that privatization of most businesses led to increase of child labor in the country. Since the company will rehire new workers, old workers will lose their job and that make them force their children to work. In this sense, Bacon commented that "Companies achieve greater competitiveness at the cost of children working in the fields," which only shows that the government tolerate this practice.He further said, "Parents can't possibly support a family on this wage, so they have to tell their children to go to work" (work cited in Bacon). This condition becomes severe because of global policies implemented worldwide, according to Maria Estela Rios Gonzales, president of the Mexican National Association of Democratic Lawyers, "Global economic policies promote unemployment among adults," and because of this, children are forced to work by their parents. She further said, "Child labor is cheaper, more docile, and easier to manipulate. Children demand less. But we cannot have unemployment for thousands of adults, and substitute for it the labor of countless children. This is a violation of all it means to be a human being," that is why, in most countries, child labor although not prohibited, and yet it is regulated. The Child Labor Public Education Project presented other causes of child labor. According to their report, "current causes of global child labor are similar to its causes in the U.S. 100 years ago, including poverty, limited access to education, repression of workers' rights, and limited prohibitions on child labor. Consequences of Child Labor Child labor interfered with school. As someone said, "the future depends on the children of today." With huge number of children engaged in child labor, the statement above seems to be a mess. Children who are expected to become the future leaders are now working in factories which often pose hazards to their health, and depriving them of education which will serve them as their tool towards building a brighter future. As Basu and Tzannato have pointed out, "child labor thwarts the acquisition of human capital by causing a loss of education and through other channels, for instance, by damaging health or affecting attitudes"(Basu & Tzannatos, p.22-23). This is because, the number of children languishing in factories often poorly ventilated, poor working condition, working as laborers or as other manual and dangerous labor work, can already make a big nation. What would happen if all these children grew up having less educated, sickly and unintellectual. But thanks to those whose determination to pursue education are strong enough to overcome the hurdles of difficulties. While other families whose hope lies in the idea that if at least one of the siblings could go to school at the expense of other sibling who would be willing to throw their lots by concentrating their efforts and resources in order to sustain the financial needs. Basu and Tzannato called this as 'sibling complimentarily.' He explained that "while for a particular child work cuts into education across sibling in poor families, work and education often seem to go together. That is, one child's labor may make it possible for another child to go to school"(Basu & Tzannatos, p.23). This kind of unselfish effort to be able to send at least one sibling to school up to college somehow reflects deep burden to get out of economic difficulty that sends access to education has not always been successful. For in three or four siblings, usually, only one can finish a course, but sometimes also, fail to finish a course. Basu and Tzannatos commented that almost as widespread is the fact that "the first born female child is less likely to attend school than others" (Basu & Tzannatos, p.23). Like some contagious and transferable diseases, poverty according to Basu and Tzannatos, it is also inter-generational dynamics which means that it "transmit from one generation to another, and this had been the case thru the middle ages, is known and documented"(Basu & Tzannatos, p.24). Harrell, Humpries and Voth attested that poverty in one generation transmit to future generations. In one given study, the Marine society which was established in Britain in 1756, recruited poor, unemployed boys for the Navy from 1770 to 1861. This Marine Society kept detailed records of the boys' interviews, as well as their socio-economic background. This records was then used by Horrell, Humpries and Voth to "show that poverty in one generation transmit to future generation in the form of human capital"(Basu & Tzannatos, p.24). But considering the advancement of technology, there are more opportunities nowadays, probably than before would develop skills in any field. It might be for a certain period that above statement is true. Nevertheless, not many children are bestowed with inborn abilities or talents or skills. Although, it is generally true that poverty transmit from generation to another, and child labor still flourished in many countries, it may no be because of scarcity of opportunities for improvement, but the lack of focus of the government to address the problem. Child labor in particular is caused probably by irresponsible parents, inherited poverty, or sickly father and mother who are incapable of fulfilling their familial duties. In wider perspective, it looks pretty much the same cause, irresponsible and selfish officials, inherited economic poverty and incapability of handling economic affairs. Policies Regarding Child Labor Child labor and its existence lies on the parents' or the guardian's decision whether to "engage the child to labor or not" (Basu & Tzannatos, p.28). But whatever the condition is, it is the "powerful market forces that give rise to child labor" (Basu & Tzannatos, p.28). The idea is that, child labor is a work force needed to increase procurement of production, which they believe important for the growth of the economy. This is the reason why in most countries, child labor is allowed. However, this should not be the case, because there are other options that can be considered before using child labor. In the study of economics, the indicators used to identify the growth of an economy is not just the production but rather "helping boost the economy's exports and through that, its GNP" (Basu & Tzannatos, p.28). Child Labor has been widely accepted as important factor in the growth of the economy because companies pay lower amount to these children, provide no security for these children, they have less expenses, and they receive less complaints from children. There may be laws that protect children but no laws have been passed to control this problem. Although, many countries follow this scheme, but India initiated a counter-action in order to totally stop child labor in their country despite their economic crisis. In a report it says that the Indian government implemented the Child Labour Act in 1986; the purpose of this act is to "prohibit the employment of children who have not completed their 14th year in specified hazardous occupations and processes" In the policy intervention with regard to child labor, that will be viewed in two perspectives: the collaborative and coercive measure. In today's generation, plenty of civic organizations governmental organizations have rose to help stop or lessen child labor. Collaborative measures are "interventions which alter the economic development of the decision maker, which making them more willing to let children away from labor and spend more time on other activities and, especially, in schooling" (Basu & Tzannatos, p. 28-29). Under this category, the government identifies some ways to help the family sustain the needs of the family. There are effective measures that can be done, like, giving financial aide to the family or improving credit insurance market for these families. However, based on the report, nothing could be more effective in pursuing this objective than the ones "that reward children who go to school instead of working" (Basu & Tzannatos, p.29). Take the case of Indonesia, in their objective to control the rise of child labor introduced a program called 'back to school' measure; thus, the finding resulted to 15% participation from students (Basu & Tzannatos, p.29). Coercive measures on the other hand, are policies which would enable WTO to take punitive action against a country that has child labor. This kind of measure takes a careful step before it is implemented; because it requires legislations by the state or the international body organization such as the United Nations. An example of the policies that can be implemented under this category is anti-hazardous labor. Coercive measures are debatable; thus may require the opinion of many sectors particularly the labor sector before implementing a policy that will safeguard the rights of the children and promote their well-being which are usually deprived from them for engaging to work at an early age. Any violation to these legislations would mean punishments in form of fines or penalty. In view of this condition regarding the issue of child labor, The World Health Organization at least with a mission to help uplift the condition of these children, made this statement, "The elimination of child labour is a long-term objective. However, in the meanwhile, we cannot allow that children are injured or harmed at work in their struggle for survival, especially when we have the knowledge and means to prevent this." Conclusion Children are innocent of what kind of life they live. They have no choice but to act according to what has been asked of them. They are supposed to be cared for, be sent to school, to play, and, they are entitled of their parents' love, affection and provision, as well as good health. However, if parents are irresponsible, or maybe out of poverty, they will grow malnourished, sickly, and at young age, may be forced to work in order to provide for the family. The same image is reflected by child labor in economic development. It portrays the government in ability to take care the younger members of the society. In countries where poverty is dominating, it could may be allowed provided that the government makes a clear guideline towards the safety and protection of children against abuses, exploitation and non-payments. There should be a law giving harsh punishment on those who would be admitted that. Some government does not have enough funding to finance all its expenditures and rely heavily on foreign borrowings. Because of it, much needed capital is reserved for infrastructure, foreign loan payments, etc. If this is the situation, legalizing child labor would benefit both the parents and the government. It should be carefully evaluated and supervised and provide a specific measure on wages, health, and security, opportunity for schooling and good working condition. In this way, the problem of poverty is somehow a little but addressed along with the working situation of these children. It can not be denied that the problem of employment remains a problem. These policies that have been suggested is good if there is no other option but to use these children in labor force. However, it is the right of the child to be protected, and so the government must address this child labor problem, at least giving the family and/or labor sector some option about the scarcity in terms of economic opportunity. Work Cited Bacon, David. "The Global Economy Promotes Child Labor." http://dbacon.igc.org/PJust/14ChildLabor.htm Badiwala, Mitesh. "Child Labour in India: Causes,Governmental Policies and the Role of Education." Child Labour Inquiry. http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Library/9175/inquiry1.htm Basu, Kaushik and Tzannatos, Zafiris. "The Global Child Labor Problem." June 6, 2003 "Child Labor Public Education Project" http://www.continuetolearn.uiowa.edu/laborctr/child_labor/ "Hazardous Child Labour." World Health Organization. http://www.who.int/occupational_health/topics/childlabour/en/ Perusek, Glenn. "Child Labor in the World Economy." New Politics , vol. 9, no. 4 (new series), whole no. 36, Winter 2004]http://www.wpunj.edu/newpol/issue36/Perusek36.htm Read More