Working children and education
Child labor, urban proximity and household composition
How does the proximity to urban centres impact on child labour in Nepal?
Authors:
M. Fafchamps; J. Wahba
Publisher:
Institute for the Study of Labor, Bonn, 2006
What is the relationship between child labour and urban proximity? Using detailed survey data from Nepal, this paper examines the determinants of child labour with a special emphasis on urban proximity.
The authors find that children residing in or near urban centres attend school more and work less in total but are more likely to be involved in wage work or in a small business. The larger the urban centre, the stronger the effect is. Urban proximity is found to reduce the workload of children and improve school attendance up to 3 hours of travel time from the city. In areas of commercialised agriculture located 3 to 7 hours from the city, children do more farm work. Urban proximity effects are accounted for by a combination of local labour supply and demand conditions, most notably the local importance of agriculture, the education level of the parents, and the local wage rate. Child servants, which represent a small proportion of all children, work much harder than other children and appear particularly at risk.
The paper concludes by suggesting that child labour cannot be understood in isolation from other forces that affect parents and their capacity to support themselves and their dependents. The authors point out that in rural areas, the participation of children in the family farm and in household chores is probably essential otherwise parents could not cope with the many demands upon their time. In and near urban centres, the situation is in general more favourable to children, with less work and more education. In towns, there is a marginal increase in market-related work but the effect only affects a relatively small proportion of children who tend to be older and predominantly male.
Additionally the paper highlights the situation of a small group of children classified as servants. These children work much longer hours than other children, mostly in market work. They represent a small proportion of all children (less than 0.5%) but their plight requires special attention.
