Saad Report[1]

"There is work that profits children, and there is work that brings profit only to employers. The object of employing children is not to train them, but to get high profits from their work."

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PREPARED BY:

SAAD NAUMAAN [091116]

BABAR MAJEED

[091118]

PREPARED FOR: •

Sir Muhammad Imran

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT We thank Almighty Allah for giving us opportunity to learn and seek knowledge. We are also thankful to our beloved parents who were very cooperative throughout the research and made it possible to complete the task in a good manner. Other than that we thank to our respectable teacher Muhammad Imran who was always there to help and guide us all the time whenever we needed him. It was because of him that we had such an excellent practical experience through which we learned a lot. It was because of our teacher who assigned us such a topic with the help of which we learned minute details about child labor.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT...................................................................................................3 These efforts resulted in the establishment in 1912 of the Children's Bureau as a federal information clearinghouse. In 1913 the Children's Bureau was transferred to the Department of Labor. When Congress passed federal child labor laws in 1916 and 1918, they were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. ......................6 CHILDREN OUT OF SCHOOL (COUNTRY WISE )............................................22

Who is a Child International conventions define children as aged 18 and under. Individual governments may define "child" according to different ages or other criteria. "Child" and "childhood" are also defined differently by different cultures. A "child" is not necessarily delineated by a fixed age. Social scientists point out that child’s abilities and maturities vary so much that defining a child's maturity by calendar age can be misleading.

Definition of a Child Labor Child labor is the employment of children at regular and sustained labor. "Child labor" is, generally speaking, work for children that harms them or exploits them in some way physically, mentally, morally, or by blocking access to education. UNICEF defines child labor as work that exceeds a minimum number of hours, depending on the age of a child and on the type of work. Such work is considered harmful to the child and should therefore be eliminated. There is no universally accepted definition of child labor. Varying definitions of the term are used by international organizations, non-governmental organizations, trade unions and other interest groups. Writers and speakers don't always speak what definition they are using and that often leads to confusion.

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BACKGROUND The majority of the world’s children do some work every day, usually in the form of household chores or an after school job, which develop skills and a sense of responsibility. However, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO) the harsh reality is that 390 million child-workers worldwide are involved in activities that are either hazardous, excessive or where their employers exploit them. Inevitably, the emotional, physical and psychological effects for these children can be extremely damaging and such work leaves little or no time for play or school. The rise of the factory system in the nineteenth century led to widespread employment of children as cheap laborers. In United States, child labor was uncontroversial in the colonial period, as children worked on family farms or would enter into trade apprenticeships between ages 10 and 14. Educational reformers in the mid-nineteenth century pressed for legislation that would establish wage minimums and school attendance requirements. These efforts at the social protection of children were stymied by the influx of southern and eastern European immigrants, the patchwork quality of American state legislation and the powerful interests who sought, for economic reasons, to confine the protective legislation. Child labor grew such that by 1900, 18 percent of 10-15 year olds the official figure of 1.75 million were employed. One-quarter of southern cotton mill employees were under 15 half of these children were under 12. After the Civil War, the availability of natural resources, new inventions, and a receptive market combined to fuel an industrial boom. The demand for labor grew, and in the late 19th and early 20th centuries many children were drawn into the labor force. Factory wages were so low that children often had to work to help support their families. Businesses liked to hire children because they worked in unskilled jobs for lower wages than adults, and their small hands made them more adept at handling small parts and tools. For the first time the industrialized world’s diplomats and economists started discussing why vast numbers of children were working rather than being educated, and what should be done about it. The focus was on developing countries. This new attention to an old issue was largely due to worries raised by people in industrialized countries such as the BUSINESS ECONOMICS

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United Kingdom. Trade unionists, politicians and campaigners for social justice voiced concern that jobs were disappearing rapidly as businesses switched production from the industrialized world to developing countries where labor costs were much lower. Simultaneously, organizations in developing countries sounded the alarm when they saw children working longer and longer hours not only producing goods for export, but also providing a cheap and malleable workforce for the local economy. As more attention was given to the work children were performing, so the statistics about the numbers involved became more startling. In the early 1990s, the number of children between 5 and 14 in full-time employment had been 100 million but by 1996 it was 120 million. By the early 1900s many Americans were calling child labor "child slavery" and were demanding an end to it. They argued that long hours of work deprived children of the opportunity of an education to prepare themselves for a better future. Instead, child labor condemned them to a future of illiteracy, poverty, and continuing misery. The National Child Labor Committee was organized in 1904 to address the problem. In 1904 a group of progressive reformers founded the National Child Labor Committee, an organization whose goal was the abolition of child labor. The organization received a charter from Congress in 1907. It hired teams of investigators to gather evidence of children working in harsh conditions and then organized exhibitions with photographs and statistics to dramatize the plight of these children. Along with numerous state child labor groups, the movement "pioneered the techniques of mass political action, including investigations by experts, the widespread use of photography to dramatize the poor conditions of children at work, pamphlets, leaflets and mass mailings to reach the public and sophisticated lobbying. The number of children under the age of 15 who worked in industrial jobs for wages climbed from 1.5 million in 1890 to 2 million in 1910. These efforts resulted in the establishment in 1912 of the Children's Bureau as a federal information clearinghouse. In 1913 the Children's Bureau was transferred to the Department of Labor. When Congress passed federal child labor laws in 1916 and 1918, they were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. By 1920 the number of child laborers was cut to nearly half of what it had been in 1910. Child labor opponents managed to press for Congressional passage of a constitutional amendment authorizing federal child labor legislation in 1924 church groups and farm organizations prevented ratification. But Child labor came under the international spotlight in the 1990s. In 2002, when the information available had been scrutinized more carefully, the total was estimated at 211 million, along with a further 141 million young people aged 15 to 17 who were also in employment.

INTRODUCTION BUSINESS ECONOMICS

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Child labor is one of the more harrowing aspects of 19th century history and undoubtedly an emotive topic. To get employment reform acts passed as legislation, reformers highlighted stories of the horrific treatment of children in mills and down the mines. Not all work is bad for children. Some social scientists point out that some kinds of work may be completely unobjectionable except for one thing about the work that makes it exploitative. For instance, a child who delivers newspapers before school might actually benefit from learning how to work, gaining responsibility, and earn a bit of money. Then he or she is being exploited. As UNICEF’s 1997 State of the World's Children Report puts it, "Children's work needs to be seen as happening along a continuum, with destructive or exploitative work at one end and beneficial work promoting or enhancing children's development without interfering with their schooling, recreation and rest at the other. And between these two poles are vast areas of work that need not negatively affect a child's development." Other social scientists have slightly different ways of drawing the line between acceptable and unacceptable work. Children's participation in economic activity that does not negatively affect their health and development or interfere with education, can be positive. Work that does not interfere with education (light work) is permitted from the age of 12 years under the International Labor Organization (ILO). So child engaged in part time work to learn practical skill linked to social or inherited custom or crafts is not child labor. It becomes "child labor" only when child weaves carpet in a factory or factory, earns money to support family without schooling, social development. On the other hand if child works for 3 to 4 hours to earn for self or parents after schooling, would not be known as child labor as is additional education and practical skill that a child learns. HOW MANY CHILD LABOUR ARE THERE? The ILO estimates, "246 million child workers aged 5 and 17 were involved in child labor, of which 171 million were involved in work that by its nature is hazardous to their safety, physical or mental health, and moral development. Moreover, some 8.4 million children were engaged in so-called 'unconditional' worst forms of child labor, which include forced and bonded labor, the use of children in armed conflict, trafficking in children and commercial sexual exploitation."

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STATICTICS ABOUT CHILD LABOR ›The vast majority of working children about 70 per cent work in the agriculture sector. ›Sub-Saharan Africa has an estimated 48 million child workers. ›Almost one child in three (29 per cent) below the age of 15 is economically active,15 per cent of children in the Middle East and North Africa are working; approximately 2.5 million and 2.4 million children are working in developed and transition economies respectively. ›A recent UNICEF survey in 25 countries in just one region, sub-Saharan Africa, revealed that almost one-third of the working children aged between 5 and 14 were involved in the “unconditional worst forms” of child labor. ›In addition, almost 10 per cent were working for more than 43 hours a week, threatening their wellbeing. ›The incidence of child labor is highest in Africa, where 41% of 5- to 14-year-olds are known to work, compared with 21% in Asia and 17% in Latin America and the Caribbean. ›Nevertheless, with its higher population, Asia has the largest total number of working Children, 60 per cent of the world’s total. ›Official figures produced by the ILO indicate that at least 200 million young children under the age of 15 are working to support themselves and their families. The actual total may be twice as high.

PAKISTAN LABOR FORCE GRAPH AND DATA Year Labor force

Rank

Percent Change

2003

40,400,000

11

2004

43,980,000

11

8.86 %

2005

45,430,000

10

3.30 %

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2006

46,840,000

10

3.10 %

2007

48,290,000

10

3.10 %

2008

48,230,000

10

-0.12 %

AN ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK Incentives, Constraints and Agency: When discussing the determinants of child labor, the idea that poverty compels child labor reflects the importance of subsistence constraints. However, micro-data reveal that children work in households that cannot be classified as subsistence-poor. There must, therefore, be other reasons that children work. A useful organization of causes is to categorize them as incentives, constraints or agency. Thus children may work because the net returns to education are low and the returns to work experience are relatively large. Policy can modify incentives, for example, by improving school quality or lowering school fees. Even where incentives favor education over work, a household may be compelled by poverty constraints to send a child to work. When these are binding, the opportunity cost of schooling is too high. In this case, policy interventions are best targeted at alleviating poverty in households supplying child labor. Most child workers are employed on household-run farms or enterprises, by their own families. Even if they work outside the home, decisions over child time allocation are BUSINESS ECONOMICS

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often taken by adults. While these adults are typically parents, a substantial and growing fraction of children in Africa are in the care of adults who are not their parents- this is because of both fostering and orphan hood. There are therefore agency issues relating to child labor that distinguish it from adult labor. Child welfare may be raised by policies that make schooling compulsory or that ban child labor, thereby eliminating adult agency. For example, adult labor supply decisions will determine the tightness of the household budget constraint. So adults with limited altruism may choose to consume some leisure while sending children to work. If poverty is measured by adult income then what appears to be a poverty constraint might in fact be relaxed under greater parent altruism.

Markets and Institutions The strength of markets and institutions will mediate the force of incentives, constraints and agency. The role of imperfections in the markets for credit, land and labor, and the part played by tastes and norms will be discussed here. For example, underdeveloped credit markets will tend to increase the impact of constraints in determining child labor. Limited access to capital markets not only perpetuates chronic poverty but also traps nonpoor households. In some societies and at certain stages of industrialization, child labor may be more acceptable than in other times and places.

Supply and Demand We have so far spoken largely of how incentives, constraints and agency, working through markets and institutions, influence the decision to supply child labor. Together with total supply, demand determines relative wages and hence the incentive to supply labor. If child labor is in fact substitutable for (unskilled) adult labor in production, then cost-minimizing employers will only prefer children if they are effectively cheaper. In principle, a well- functioning labor market should equalize effective wages, that is, wages adjusted for productivity. Under these conditions, employers are indifferent between adults and children and, with improvement in adult skills and, thereby, the relative productivity of adults, households will face a falling nominal return to child labor. In practice, however, just as women continue to be paid less than men for equal work, children may be paid disproportionately less than adults. This sort of wage discrimination, by making child labor more cost-effective, raises the demand for it. Total demand increases or decreases depend upon the relative strength of efficiency and substitution effects. This is basically concentrated on the supply side that is on the characteristics of households that send children into work or upon the characteristics of children themselves. Many do not control for demand effects which may be done by including region fixed effects or a regional unemployment rate.

CHILD LABOR AND EDUCATION Child labor is closely associated with poverty. Many poor families are unable to afford school fees or other school costs. The family may depend on the contribution that a working child makes to the household's income, and place more importance on that than on education. And when a family has to make a choice between sending either a boy or BUSINESS ECONOMICS

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girl to school, it is often the girl who loses out. More than ever today, children need a good quality education and training if they are to acquire the skills necessary to succeed in the labor market. However, in many countries the schools which are accessible to the poor families are under-resourced and inadequate. Poor facilities, over-sized classes, and lack of trained teachers lead to low standards of education. In the Millennium Development Goals the United Nations and the broader international community set targets of ensuring that by 2015 all boys and girls complete a full course of primary education and that there is gender parity in education. These targets cannot be met unless the factors that generate child labor and prevent poor families from sending children to school are addressed. Among the most important steps required are: •Provision of free and compulsory education; •Tackling barriers to girls education; •Ensuring that children have access to a school and a safe and quality learning environment; •Providing catch up education opportunities for children and youth who have so far missed out on formal schooling; •Tackling the worldwide shortage of teachers and ensuring a properly trained and professional teaching force; •Enforcing laws on child labor and education in line with international standards; •Tackling poverty, and creating decent work for adults; •Raising public awareness to tackle child labor. Child laborers work for most of the time. In some cases they work for 16 hours a day. This deprives the child from time to seek education, which is essential for the overall development and future progress of the child. Some children are bound by their employers as slaves and have to work all the time. In some cases the poverty of the household and low level of parental education are responsible for child labor. The value of education is less important to the parents than the income the child earns for them. In the present money-oriented environment, the parents consider putting their child to work a better education method than schooling as work assures survival and better future prospects. This is due to the failure of many graduates to get a job, which is evident from the high level of unemployment existing among them.

"Education broadens your mind but it does not teach you how to survive”.

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Pverty and child Labor From a policy perspective, it is interesting to consider how child labor responds to trends in economic growth and globalization. There is some evidence on the effects of growth and trade-expansion on poverty and poverty levels will reflect changes associated with growth and trade reform for instance, in consumer and producer prices, a first step in linking the available micro econometric evidence with the larger questions of growth and Globalization is to study the relation of poverty and child labor. (a) Market Imperfections Productive assets like land or enterprise-capital will have negative wealth effects on child labor and, in a perfect-markets economy we would expect the children of large landowners to be less likely to be in work than the children of small landowners or landless agricultural workers. The common presumption is that child labor emerges from the poorest households. (b) Poverty Constraints A negative effect of income on hours of work is, however, expected for adults and for children and in poor as well as non-poor households. In other words, it only indicates that Child leisure or child schooling is a normal good. Generally, if the household is very poor, the income effect will tend to dominate the substitution effect and the wage elasticity will be negative. Thus a testable prediction of the hypothesis of compelling poverty is that the wage elasticity is negative. Positive wage elasticity, on the other hand, is consistent with the view that children work on account of the relative returns to school being low. (c) Multiple Choices Men’s decision to work can be quite adequately modeled as a choice between markets work, self-employment and leisure. In the case of women, a third choice is home production i-e productive work within the households for which there is no explicit wage. In the case of children, a third choice is school attendance. The child labor supply decision involves allocation of time between labor, leisure and school. The basic

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assumptions are that leisure is a good and labor is a bad and it is probably reasonable to assume that the marginal utility of school attendance is positive. Labor brings the benefits of a wage income today as well as the benefit of experience accumulation and therefore higher wages tomorrow. Education also promises higher wages tomorrow, so time allocation has to weigh up these dynamic benefits since more education usually means less work experience. PER CAPITA TOTAL OPPURTUNITY COST OF CHILD LABOR IN EACH REGION AND IN URBAN/RURAL AREAS

GROWTH IN SECTORS

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FACTS & FIGURES OF CHILD LABOR IN ASIA AND WORLDWIDE According to estimates by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in their report of June 2006, the numbers of children working aged 5 to 14 is: ○Globally 190 million ○In Asia 122 million ○In sub-Saharan Africa 50 million. In fact 26 percent of all children work here ○ In Latin America 5 million. ○ In the rest of the world 13 million. ○ Across Africa, there are an estimated 80 million child workers, a number that could rise to 100 million by 2015.

Hazardous child labour: Approximately 126 million children work in jobs which are considered hazardous forms of child labour. These include: • • • •

Slavery Child trafficking Bonded labour Prostitution

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•

Any other work which is harmful for the health, safety and morals of children.

A survey carried out by the ILO showed that 70% of working children are involved in agriculture, forestry and hunting. There is a close interweavement here with the informal economy in which by far most working children are involved. Hence it can occur that commercial plantations contract work out to small family farms - or families manufacture goods in their homes which are then sold by a company on the domestic market or abroad.

Injuries caused by unacceptable working conditions: Very few children are left unaffected by the frequent hard physical and hazardous work they carry out. Children suffer from: • • • • • •

Broken arms and legs Burns Skin diseases Blindness Deafness Headaches, stomach-aches and breathing difficulties.

TYPES OF CHILD LABOR Child Labor is not only found in factories, but also in many other places. Their %age is; 1. Agricultural Labor 42.1% 2. Cultivators-34.8% 3. Mining, quarrying - 6.5% 4. Manufacturing ex. industry - 5.4% 5. Trade and commerce-2.5% 6. Household industry-4% 7. Others- 4.6%

CAUSES OF CHILD LABOR BUSINESS ECONOMICS

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The main causes or reasons for creating child labor are; OVER POPULATION: Most of the Asian and African countries are overpopulated. Due to limited resources and more mouths to feed, Children are employed in various forms of work. ILLITERACY: Illiterate parents do not realize the need for a proper physical, emotional and cognitive development of a child. As they are uneducated, they do not realize the importance of education for their children. POVERTY: Many a time poverty forces parents to send their children to hazardous jobs. Although they know it is wrong, they have no other alternative as they need the money. URBANIZATION: The Industrial Revolution has its own negative side. Many a time MNC's and export industries in the developing world employ while workers, particularly in the garment industry. UNEMPLOYMENT OF ELDERS: Elders often find it difficult to get jobs. The industrialists and factory owners find it profitable to employ children. This is so because they can pay less and extract more work. They will also not create union problem. ORPHANS: Children born out of wedlock, children with no parents and relatives, often do not find anyone to support them. Thus they are forced to work for their own living. WILLINGNESS TO EXPLOIT CHILDREN: This is at the root of the problem Even if a family is very poor; the incidence of child labor will be very low unless there are people willing to exploit these children.

MYTHS ABOUT CHILD LABOR FOUR WRONG NOTIONS ABOUT CHILD LABOUR: 1. Child labor is only found in poor countries. While it is true that in underdeveloped countries, child labor is found in large numbers .But it is also true that child is prevalent in almost all countries. For example, if in a developed country some children before going to school sells newspapers for one or two hours, very few people view it as child exploitation, even though that child might be getting a fraction of what is being paid to an adult for the same job. It is true that in most of the rich countries too, child labor takes place. Often the exploited ones are the minority or immigrant children.

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2. Child labor is only found in the industries. It is true that the child labor in the industries is the most visible layer. While it is also true that children in Pakistan make footballs in factories, but we cannot ignore the lakhs of child laborers who work in unorganized sector where they face equal or greater dangers. In truth, only 5.4% of child laborers work in industries. If we fall into the fallacy that the most exploited children are the ones who work in factories then we are doing injustice to those whose labors are practically invisible. 3. Child labor can be removed by legislation. This is not true. Legislation has proved to be a notoriously difficult thing to enforce. Therefore, it has not been effective. Every country has by now passed many laws against child labor. 4. Without removing poverty we cannot solve the problem of child labor. While it is true that most of the child laborers come from poor families, the fact is that it is an employer’s willingness to exploit children which is at the root of the problem. However a poor family is they will be no problem regarding child labor unless there are people who are willing to exploit such children.

EFFECTS OF CHILD LABOR 1. Child labor deprives a child of a proper childhood. 2. He suffers physical and mental torture. 3. He becomes mentally and emotially mature too fast which is a dangerous sign. 4. Child labor creates and perpetuates poverty. 5. It condemns the child to a life of unskilled, badly paid work. 6. Ultimately this leads to child labor with each generation.

IMPACTS OF CHILD LABOR BUSINESS ECONOMICS

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(a)

In Pakistan

Like elsewhere across the South Asia where governments are suffering from bad administration and poor governance, Pakistan is also suffering from the lingering peril of child labor and the economic exploitation of the poor. Because of peculiar socioeconomic conditions and the chaotic political situations in the third world countries like Pakistan, Governments and the public sector institutions responsible for keeping an eye on the child labor and child exploitation, often fail to come up to the expectations of the society. It has been observed that rising economic costs of life often resulting in falling living standards, lingering political crises, rising unemployment and poor planning, joblessness, unplanned population migration to mega cities, rapid urbanization, lack of education and many other factors have resulted in spiraling child labor as poor families cannot afford to cope with multiple economic crunch and use their children as a pawn to earn some extra pennies. Child labor, with the passage of time, has emerged as the biggest challenge to the society and the government in ensuring conducive atmosphere for the children with poor economic background. Unfortunately, child labor is deeply engraved in the social culture of Pakistan. In Pakistan children aged 5 to 14 are above 40 million. During the last year, the Federal Bureau of Statistics released the results of its survey funded by ILO’s IPEC (International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor). The findings were that 3.8 million children age group of 5-14 years are working in Pakistan out of total 40 million children in this age group; fifty percent of these economically active children are in age group of 5 to 9 years. Even out of these 3.8 million economically active children, 2.7 million were claimed to be working in the agriculture sector. Two million and four hundred thousand (73%) of them were said to be boys Pakistan are leading lines below the line of poverty, whereas the Social Policy Development Centre (SPDC) Karachi has stated in one of its

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reports that the ratio of poverty in Pakistan was 33% during 1999 that increased in 2001 and reached 38%. The ratio of poverty in the current year is around 30%.Consider the point that if 30% of our country’s total population is leading life below the poverty-line wherein the people are deprived of basic necessities of life like clothing, shelter, food, education and medication, the children of these people will be forced to become Laborers or workers in order to survive. Another reason of child Labor in Pakistan is that our people don’t have the security of social life. There is no aid plan or allowance for children in our country. Class-based education system is another reason for increasing child Labor; villages lack standardized education systems and as a result, child Labor is on increase in rural areas. The government has not put its laws into practice to stop child Labor in our country. Employers after exploiting child Labor, extract a large surplus, whereas child Labor, despite increasing poverty, unemployment and other problems, are pressed to do anything and everything for their livelihood and the survival of their families. The issue of child labor and the economic exploitation of children of a lesser God has always been a burning issue in Pakistan. Successive governments tried to hush up this gargantuan issue, having multiple implications, while civil society and the media attempts to draw out kaleidoscopic view of the spiraling problem. While child labor has serious impact on the children’s mental and social development, it also impedes their emotional growth. Children are our only hope for a better future and if we desire a better and prosperous Pakistan then we must give them their right of education. Education is the foremost fundamental right of the children which must be protected and given to each and every child. Although a number of protecting laws contain provisions prohibiting child labor or regulating the working conditions of children and adolescent workers but the issue still remain unresolved. Pakistan has enacted many laws for eradicating child labor. The Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan states that; “No child below the age of fourteen shall be engaged in any factory or mine or in any other hazardous employment.” And also, “All forms of forced labor and traffic in human beings are prohibited.”

Various child labor issues are dealt with under following laws. (a) The Factories Act, 1934 (b) The West Pakistan Shops and Establishments Ordinance, 1969 (c) The Employment of Children Act, 1991 (d) The Bonded Labor System Abolition Act, 1992 (e) The Punjab Compulsory Education Act, 1994

It is a great pity that out of the 160 million population of Pakistan, it is estimated that there are well over 10 million child laborers below the age of 18 years, the age where childhood ends. The International Labor Organization (ILO) defines child Labor as: BUSINESS ECONOMICS

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(a) (b) (c) (d)

When a child is working during early age He overworks or gives over time to Labor He works due to the psychologically, socially, and materialistic pressure He becomes ready to Labor on a very low pay

Punjab government is giving special attention to the social sector development for poverty alleviation and creating more job opportunities for the jobless. In this regard, a sum of Rs.58.64 billion has been provided in the Annual Development Program of the Punjab province to improve health care, education, social welfare and provision of water and sewerage facilities. Punjab Government is also strengthening its “Center for Improvement of Working Conditions and Environment” for improving occupational safety and health surveillance of the workers. A sum of Rs.100 million is also being utilized on seven different projects relating to labor welfare in the province. However, child labor cannot be eliminated by government efforts alone. Civil society, media, community leaders, Ulema and the scholars should also come out and foster the need of keeping families small. We must lean to live according to our economic means. Education is the only way to get rid of vicious circle of poverty. It is also needed to bring behavioral change towards adoption of affordable family size for better maternal and child health and sustainable socioeconomic development to achieve the desired population growth rate in the province. Punjab government must adopt a holistic mechanism to fully utilize it Population Welfare department for sensitizing the people about utility of small families.

(b) On International Business Child labor is linked to global business directly and, more commonly, indirectly. Critics blame increased trade and financial flows for increased child labor, and those criticisms that have undermined the legitimacy of further trade and financial liberalization. Companies including multinationals such as Nike, Wal-Mart, Ikea and the Brazilian subsidiaries of U.S. and European automobile manufacturers have responded with a range of initiatives. Unless business responses alleviate the worst forms of child labor, the legitimacy of continued trade and financial liberalization will continue to be undermined by perceptions that liberalization disproportionately hurts children, especially child workers. This linkage between child labor and trade makes child labor at least an indirect concern for many businesses.

International Business and Child Labor: Three Dimensions Business’ role in the economy of child labor has at least three dimensions, both in the formal and informal economic sectors. The three dimensions are: ►DIRECT: A firm or enterprise employs children directly. ►INDIRECT: Goods and services produced by children are purchased from other firms. ►EXTERNAL: A firm or enterprise plays a part, beyond its direct business interests, in shaping opinions and policies concerning child labor in the local economy.

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(a) DIRECT: A firm or enterprise employs children directly: As mentioned, the majority of direct employment is in the informal sector, where children take part in performing services, small-scale manufacturing, various agricultural occupations and work in the home. Many of these children are “hidden” workers, because they only work in their homes and thus do not show up in formal labor force statistics. Although many of these children are working under family supervision, full-time home work can bar a child from attending school; and many home-based activities can be as hazardous as work performed outside the home. In the formal sector, when children are employed, it is usually in businesses featuring fierce competition among producers, low barriers to entry, and labor-intensive work for relatively low-skill labor requirements. (b) INDIRECT: Goods and services produced by children are purchased from other firms. This dimension is increasing as formal sector firms purchase goods and services made by informal sector firms or enterprises, goods made in traditional home settings, and goods made by enterprises that have them outsourced production to home workers. In some cases, firms have been initially unaware that such production has a child-labor component. (c) EXTERNAL: A firm or enterprise plays a part, beyond its direct business interests, in shaping opinions and policies concerning child labor in the local economy. Some firms play active roles to shape local-economy attitudes toward child labor and the educational institutions and social services that affect children. This third dimension has increased in prominence as global economic integration has led international business to playing a larger role in shaping the public policies of governments around the world.

Primary school enrolment and attendance Primary school enrolment rate (2000-2007*) Gross

Countries and Territories

Primary school enrolment rate (2000-2007*) Net

Primary school attendance rate (2000-2007*) Net

Male

Female

Total

Male

Female

Total

Male

Female

Total

Afghanistan

126

75

101

74

46

61

66

40

53

Albania

106

105

105

94

93

94

92

92

92

Bangladesh

101

105

103

87

91

89

79

84

81

Canada

100

99

100

99

100

100

-

-

-

China

112

111

111

99

99

99

-

-

-

Germany

103

103

103

98

98

98

-

-

-

Egypt

108

102

105

98

94

96

96

94

95

Japan

100

100

100

100

100

100

-

-

-

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Iraq

109

90

100

95

82

89

91

80

86

Kenya

107

104

106

75

76

76

79

79

79

Pakistan

94

74

84

74

57

66

60

51

56

United Kingdom

105

106

105

98

99

98

-

-

-

Mexico

114

111

113

98

97

98

97

97

97

98

96

97

89

88

88

-

-

-

Sub-Saharan Africa

101

90

96

75

70

73

64

61

62

Eastern and Southern Africa

110

104

107

83

81

82

66

66

66

93

77

85

67

58

63

63

56

59

Middle East and North Africa

102

97

100

86

81

84

88

85

87

South Asia

111

104

108

88

83

85

81

77

79

East Asia and Pacific

111

110

111

98

97

98

92

92

92

Latin America and Caribbean

120

116

118

94

95

95

90

91

91

98

96

97

92

90

91

93

91

92

Industrialized countries

101

101

101

95

96

96

-

-

-

Developing countries

109

103

106

89

86

87

80

77

78

Least developed countries

101

91

96

79

74

77

65

63

64

World

108

103

105

90

87

88

80

77

78

Hungary SUMMARY INDICATORS

Western and Central Africa

Central and Eastern Europe, Commonwealth of Independent States

CHILDREN OUT OF SCHOOL (COUNTRY WISE ) Country

Primary NER or NAR, 2000-2007*

Children of primary school age Official Source of out of school (thousands), primary primary 2007 school NER or

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Male

Female

Total

Year

Male

Female

Total

age (years)

NAR

Afghanistan

74

46

61

2007

626

1190

1816

7 - 12

Ministry of Education 2008 (NER)

Albania

94

93

94

2004

6

7

13

6-9

UIS 2008 (NER)

Algeria

96

94

95

2006

69

108

177

6 - 11

UIS 2008 (NER)

Andorra

83

83

83

2006

0

0

0

6 - 11

UIS 2008 (NER)

Angola

58

59

58

2001

415

409

824

6-9

-

-

-

-

-

-

5 - 11

95

96

96

11

8

19

7 - 12

Antigua and Barbuda Denmark

2006

MICS 2001 (NAR)

UIS 2008

68

59

63

2005

3973

5027

9000

6 - 11

UIS 2008 (NER)

-

-

90

2001

-

-

-

5 - 10

Regional MDG report (NER)

Norway

98

98

98

2006

5

4

9

6 - 12

UIS 2008 (NER)

Occupied Palestinian Territory

76

76

76

2006

60

58

118

6-9

UIS 2008 (NER)

Oman

73

75

74

2006

47

42

89

6 - 11

UIS 2008 (NER)

Pakistan

60

51

Nigeria Niue

REGION WISE Region

Primary NER or NAR, 2000-2007

Children of primary school age out of school (millions), 2007

Male

Female

Total

Male

Female

Total

Sub-Saharan Africa

66

62

64

21.8

23.7

45.5

Eastern and Southern Africa

68

69

68

10.2

9.9

20.1

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Western and Central Africa

64

56

60

11.6

13.8

25.4

Middle East and North Africa

88

83

86

2.9

3.8

6.7

South Asia

82

77

80

16.4

18.6

35.0

East Asia and Pacific

97

97

97

2.2

2.5

4.7

Latin America and Caribbean

93

93

93

2.2

2.0

4.2

Central and Eastern Europe, Commonwealth of Independent States

93

92

93

0.8

0.9

1.7

Industrialized countries

95

96

96

1.6

1.3

2.9

Developing countries

84

81

83

46.7

52.2

98.9

Least developed countries

66

63

65

20.6

21.8

42.4

World

86

83

85

47.9

52.8

100.7

CONCLUSION As we all know that child labor is a major problem in all over the world today. It is not only prevailing in developing countries but also it is a cursed in developed countries. If we talk about Pakistan then the child under the age of 15 or may be less is engaged in labor work. The main problem for this is the lack of education and lower income level of the people.

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No doubt, child labor in United States also a dynamic problem but if we compare it with other countries it is less than those. The main reason for flourishing the child labor in the Pakistan is the instability of political environment. The numbers of family members are more than the income level. For the better eradication of this problem is the government support. Because government should arranged such steps on international level through which this type of curse could be removed or minimized. But, this is not only the government responsibility, we as a citizen should forward our steps for elimination of this problem. We should arrange seminars on v child labor; different speeches can play a vital role in this regard. And moreover, media can play a very important role for this. Different types of ads should be shown on TV for the awareness of this problem. If we adopted such little steps than may be a small part of this curse could be eliminated. In a vivid, we can say child labor is a complex problem which demands a range of solutions. There is no better way to prevent child Labor than to make education compulsory. The West understood this a long time ago. Laws were enacted very early to secure continued education for working children; and now they have gone a step forward, and required completion of at least the preliminary education of the child before he or she starts work. Better solutions should be adopted for its removal otherwise it will soon lick the pillars of the world.

SUGGESTIONS ►Awareness raising activities should be arranged so that people are informed about children’s rights to education and leisure. ►Microfinance programs so that families have sufficient income and can keep their children out of paid work.

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►Provision of health and educational services for working children should be ensured. ►Ensuring that children orphaned by AIDS are still accorded their rights and are equipped with skills that will help them as adults ►Plan works to raise awareness of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. ►Poor people should provide such opportunities to get themselves out of poverty, and prevent and stop all types of exploitation of children. ►Providing all children with access to education is every government’s responsibility, as well as a practical response to preventing child labor. Free, compulsory, relevant and good-quality education services should be given. ►laws and regulations against child labor must be in place and rigorously enforced by governments should be in manner. ►Civil society and media engagement can change attitudes and it can condemn child labor. It can also helps in raising awareness of its harmful effects on health and development will help alleviate children’s vulnerability to abuse. ►Relevant school curricula and vocational training programes can be adapted to students’ circumstances and will increase their school attendance. ►Social programes to support families in need and help them find alternative income to replace their child’s employment will help prevent child labor. Such support is also needed for child-headed households, orphans and children’s. ►To create awareness on the different aspects of child labor issue and start campaigns on children’s for the implementation of children's rights.

►Family size should be small because Poor households tend to have more children, and with large families there is a greater likelihood that children will work and have lower school attendance and completion. ►Governments need to devote resources for Schooling and to provide good quality and relevance atmosphere with no cost to poor families. ►Base programming on children’s own perception of what constitutes safe / harmful / age appropriate / educational labor. ►Target and focus integrated packages of basic services on urban poor families. BUSINESS ECONOMICS

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►Disabled children must receive priority attention due to their particular vulnerability to exploitation in the worst forms of child labor on the streets. ►Expand education services to make them accessible to working children. ►To give priority attention to immediately eliminating the worst forms of child labor with appropriate programes.

REFERENCES www.google.com www.unicef.org.com www.wikipedia.com The News BUSINESS ECONOMICS

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