Not all work done by children should be classified as child labor that is to be targeted for elimination. Children’s or adolescents’ participation in work that does not affect their health and personal development or interfere with their schooling, is generally regarded as being something positive. This includes activities such as helping their parents around the home, assisting in a family business or earning pocket money outside school hours and during school holidays. These kinds of activities contribute to children’s development and to the welfare of their families; they provide them with skills and experience, and help to prepare them to be productive members of society during their adult life.

The term “child labor” is often defined as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development. ▫It refers to work that:  is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children; and interferes with their schooling by: depriving them of the opportunity to attend school; obliging them to leave school prematurely; or requiring them to attempt to combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy work.

Child labor distribution by branch of economic activity, 5-17 years old

The main causes of child labor include poverty, unemployment, and excess population. Among these, poverty is the primary cause of child labor. Poverty: Sometime 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. 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. 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.