Children in Different Activities: Child Schooling and Child Labor

RANA EJAZ ALI KHAN

Article Review This paper inspects the econometric analysis of supply-side factors determining child labor. Child statistics varies in different regions depending upon the socio-economic factors in the region. There had been numerous studies in order to identify the key variables responsible for child labor. However, this particular paper is directly analyzing the effect of socio-economic variables on the parents decision to send the child to school or for labor. The paper uses cluster sampling for population from two districts of Pakistan, Pakpatan and Faislabad. Household data is used and households are divided equally within the two districts. Modeling is done under certain assumptions. The primary and the critical assumption that author has made is considering schooling as priority by parents for well-being of the children. A sequential probit model is employed by assigning probabilities to four scenarios. Firstly being the probability to go to school and not to work, then probability to go to school and to work, probability not to go to school but to work, and lastly probability of neither to go to school nor to work. The independent variables include a set of child characteristics, household characteristics, head of household characteristics and parent characteristics. Out of these parents characteristics may impact largely on dependent probabilities as these include father and mothers education and employment, which in the evidence of past studies play crucial role in the decision of the parents to send their child to school or to work. The findings of the model indicate that majority of the independent variables exhibit the same effect on the variable under study as implied by the theoretical framework. The t-statistics of most variables are significant. The r-square value of all four models indicates that on average 60% of variation is being explained by the independent variables in the model. Some of the general findings are as follow; firstly a distinctive gender gap can be observed in the school going ratio. Boys are favored when it comes to decision of whether to send the child to school or not. Most importantly a higher household income can be observed in those households where children go to work. This indicates why child labor is supported in rural households. Findings also suggest that a household with educated members as

head prefers schooling of the child and discourage child labor. Also boys are more likely to work and to go school. In addition a large family size discourages schooling due to limited resources. The rural-urban factor is also critical in determining the supply of child labor. Children in urban areas are more likely to go to school than those in rural areas. Last but not the least poverty is motivating factor in child labor. Lastly this paper shows that there is a clear trade-off between child labor and schooling. The cost and benefits from education are considered by parents in making schooling and child labor decisions. In epitome, the adverse effect of child labor on schooling outcomes is likely to be increased if a child spends more time on labor activities outside the home. Easy and improved access to the credit market can significantly increase school attendance and reduce child labor. Moreover, income transfer programs, targeting the households living below poverty line, can help to stimulate demand for education by reducing the cost of education.