Child labor in Pakistan: its magnitude and causative factors

Abstract

The purpose of this research thesis is to investigate the magnitude of the child labor incidence in Pakistan as well as the causal links between poverty, access to education, trade openness, lack of government intervention and employers’ willingness to hire child labor and child labor. The study aims at examining the validity of the following hypotheses: H1: Poverty is a determinant of and is positively associated with the phenomenon of child labor. H2: Lack of access to education is a determinant of and is positively associated with the phenomenon of child labor. H3: There is a significant positive relationship between country trade openness and child labor. H4: Lack of government intervention facilitates the phenomenon of child labor. H5: Employers’ willingness to hire child labor lies at the core of the phenomenon of child labor. This research study was conducted in two stages. The first stage was gathering of data by examining relevant literature, articles, books, research journals, publications and official reports. The second step was to review the survey reports published by the government and national and international institutes working on dealing with labor issues. This data was obtained from documentation and surveys of United Nations (UN), Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS), Statistics Division; Ministry of Labor, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis; International Labor Organization (ILO); International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC); The United Nations Development Program (UNDP); and Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE).