1. Child Labor

2. What is child labor?
Child labor can be defined as the exploitation of children in order to use their workforce and in turn prevent them from attending school and having fun.
Child labor can be quite harmful to children since it may lead to physical or mental diseases.
Child labor is quite common in some cultures, especially in poor countries with a high average number of children per family.
In the following, the extent, causes, effects and also solutions concerning child labor are examined.

3. Causes Poverty Pressure from parents Orphanism
Low social security standards
Cultural values and attitudes
Large families
High unemployment levels
Law exceptions
Not enough control instances
Lack of access to education
Unaffordable schooling
Financial problems of countries
Low level of workers’ rights

4. Poverty One big cause for child labor is poverty.
Especially in third world countries, many people are quite poor and often struggle to make enough money to cover basic needs like food, water and electricity.
In those countries, child labor is quite common since parents need their children to support the family in order to be able to survive.

5. Pressure from parents
There is often great pressure from parents on their children regarding the topic of child work.
Parents may threat to physically harm their children if they do not work and contribute to the family’s income.
Moreover, parents may be addicted to drugs and therefore may lose control in their life and may also treat their children quite bad, which may lead to excessive child work since parents may abuse their children for work purposes in order to be able to buy drugs or other substances.

6. Orphanism Orphanism can also be a cause for child labor.
Children who grow up without parents often need money in order to survive.
This is especially true in countries where there is no or not sufficient social security in place.
These children are likely to search for work instead of attending school since they simply need money for their basic needs.

7. Low social security standards
Bad social security schemes are another reason for child work.
In many developing countries, social security levels are quite low and people mainly have to take care of themselves in order to survive.
These countries often also have quite bad health insurance systems.
This means, if a family member suffers from a severe disease and is not able to work anymore, children have to work instead to support the family and provide them with sufficient income to be able to buy food and other basic stuff.

8. Cultural values and attitudes
Cultural values and belief systems play an important role for the mentality of people.
In many cultures, it is quite common that children at a certain age start to work and support their family financially.
In many countries, children are also seen as some kind of social security or pension system.
Especially in countries where there is no pension insurance, people are more likely to have many children since these children are meant to provide financially for the old family members who are not able to work anymore.

9. Large families
Especially in poor countries, the average number of children per family is quite high.
This is often due to the fact that people do not use contraceptives or also that they want many children since children can support their parents financially when parents are old and cannot work anymore.
However, large families have the disadvantage that in order to be able to feed all family members, it is crucial to earn substantial amounts of money.
If the income of adults is not enough to earn this income, children may also have to work in order to provide for their family members and themselves.

10. High unemployment levels
Another reason for child labor can be a high level of unemployment.
If parents are not able to work since they do not get a job due to a low level of qualification and high unemployment levels, their children may have to work instead.
There are some jobs that children can do better than adults.
High unemployment levels may also lead to quite bad working conditions since there is much demand for work but quite little supply.
This means that firms can exploit workers and children quite easily since the people are dependent on the work to be able to survive.

11. Law exceptions
In many countries, child labor is considered as a bad thing.
However, in many laws, especially in poor third world countries, there are often several exceptions regarding child labor laws.
These exceptions make it possible for firms to exploit the children and to pay them quite low wages for many hours of hard work.

12. Not enough control instances
Many poor countries often lack control instances regarding child labor.
Even if there are laws in place that should prevent child labor, in many regions, nobody will really care about it since firms often do not have to fear any consequences when they employ children.
Thus, a lack of controls also contributes to the child labor issue.

13. Lack of access to education
Another reason for child work is that many children do not have sufficient access to schooling and other education.
Many people live quite remote from schools and therefore will not be able to attend it due to bad infrastructure.
These people will stay uneducated and will often not be able to get better life conditions in the future due to the insufficient education.
Instead of attending school, those kids are likely to work from an early age on and will likely never be able to escape this vicious circle.
When these children grow up, also their children are likely to live similar life since poverty and a lack of education are often passed on to the next generation.

14. Unaffordable schooling
Many schools are quite expensive compared to the average income of families in poor countries.
Therefore, parents may often not be able to afford schooling for their children.
When children do not attend school, there perspective for a good future is crushed since education often is the only measure to escape poverty.
These children are likely to work instead of going to school and will likely continue to work in low wage jobs even when they turn into grownups.

15. Financial problems of countries
Many countries have big financial problems.
These problems include high levels of debt and also problems with a high inflation rate.
Therefore, these countries are likely not able to provide sufficient social security and health insurance for their people.
A lack of these basic needs often leads to child labor since families need the financial support from their kids in order to survive.

16. Low level of workers’ rights
In many countries, there is a lack of rights when it come to work.
Many workers have to suffer from inhuman working conditions due to the fact that there are no laws in place which support workers and safe them from these adverse working conditions.
The same often applies when it comes to child labor.
Children often work under quite bad working conditions which may also impact their health in the long run.

17. Effects Malnutrition Health conditions Drug dependency Depression
Prostitution
Child pornography
Illiteracy
Injuries
Mental issues
Diseases

18. Malnutrition One adverse effect of child labor is malnutrition.
Children often have to work in quite hard physical jobs, which means that they lose a lot of minerals and calories per day.
This in turn means that they have to consume quite a lot of food to maintain their weight.
However, in many cases, due to their low income levels, these children will not be able to get enough food and nutrients to grow in an optimal way.
This in turn may lead to further health complications for these children when they turn into grownups.

19. Health conditions
Many children may also suffer from adverse health conditions due to child work.
In many cases, the body of children is not made for the physically demanding work.
This can hurt the body and may lead to all kinds of issues concerning the spine and bones.
Moreover, children often have to work under conditions where they are exposed to harmful gases or toxic substances.
This likely leads to lung diseases or other serious health conditions.

20. Drug dependency
Due to their hard childhood, many children who have to work under these adverse working conditions may become dependent to drugs since they simply need drugs to escape from their daily torture.
In many cases, in families where their parents are addicted to substances, children are even more likely to adapt this behavior.
Thus, child labor may increase the probability for drug dependencies.

21. Depression
Many children who are exposed to child labor and the implied adverse effects will also suffer from depression.
They simply are not able to deal with the whole situation since their problems often overwhelm them.
This can lead to an increased number of suicides.
Moreover, these children often will not be able to have a happy life when they grow up since they suffered so much in their childhood and are likely to carry this baggage into adulthood.

22. Prostitution
Child prostitution is another big issue when it comes to child labor.
In many regions, unemployment rates are quite high.
However, people need money in order to survive.
In some cases, parents will use their children for prostitution in order to be able to earn enough money for their families.

23. Child pornography
Child pornography is also a big issue when it comes to child work. In some regions, there are many unprincipled people who abuse children for pornographic purposes.
In many cases, children simply have no choice since they are forced through physical threats or simply since they need the money to provide for their families.

24. Illiteracy Child labor also contributes to an increase in illiteracy.
Instead of attending school and learning spelling and grammar, many children work in mines or other jobs.
However, this implies that these children will lack the ability for reading and writing, even when they turn into grownups.
This lack of education will make it quite hard for them to escape poverty since the ability to read and write are essential in many jobs.

25. Injuries
Children are also at risk for serious injuries when they are working under adverse conditions.
For example, children working in mines are exposed to several threats, including that the mine will eventually collapse and they will get buried.
Moreover, in many jobs, children are exposed to toxic substances and are likely to suffer from this exposure in the future.

26. Mental issues
There are also many mental issues that are related to child labor.
Many children will not be able to deal with their circumstances and will suffer from mental diseases.
They are also likely to carry these mental diseases into adulthood which may prevent them from having a happy life.

27. Diseases
Children may also suffer from diseases due to their working conditions.
For example, children may often work in gold mines where they have to separate the gold from dirt with the help of mercury.
In many cases, they do not even wear gloves for protection purposes.
This will eventually lead to a contamination with mercury and significantly decreases the life expectancy for those children.

28. Solutions Stricter laws Better enforcement of laws
Changes in value systems
Stop buying stuff made by child labor
Expose manufacturers which use child labor
Don’t invest in companies using child labor
Decrease consumption levels
Reuse and recycle
Support charity organizations which fight child labor
Labels
Raising awareness
Education
Convince others

29. Stricter laws
One measure against child labor and the implied adverse effects is to set stricter laws and higher fines for child labor.
With higher penalties, firms will lose the incentive to employ children.

30. Better enforcement of laws
Stricter laws are not enough.
These laws also have to be enforced in a way that child labor is prohibited in an effective manner.
This could include to employ more staff in the child labor prevention unit.
It may also mean that companies are controlled more frequently.
By doing so, companies will likely refuse to employ children since they are at greater risk to be exposed and to be fined accordingly.

31. Changes in value systems
In order to mitigate the problem of child work, it is crucial to change the value systems of cultures.
If it is seen as normal to employ 10-year-old kids and it is culturally accepted, people will continue to exploit child labor since for them, it is “normal” behavior to do so.
By showing people the adverse physical and mental effects that child labor imposes on children, the mentality of cultures may change.
Through this change in value systems, people are more likely to refrain from child labor.

32. Stop buying stuff made by child labor
In our consumption intensive society, many products that are consumed in the Western world are produced in quite poor countries with low work standards.
In these countries, child labor is on a daily basis.
This problem is especially severe in poor countries where children are forced to work instead of going to school to financially support their parents and other family members.
By avoiding to buy things made with the help of child labor, the demand and also the price for these products are likely to drop and stores may avoid selling these kinds of products.
This in turn would mitigate the child labor problem since if there is no demand for child labor products anymore, firms in these countries are also more likely to refrain from employing children.

33. Expose manufacturers which use child labor
Firms are quite aware that their brand and how it is perceived in public plays a major role for their success.
This in turn implies that if we expose firms who are using child labor in their production processes, these firms will suffer severe damage to their brand.
Therefore, they are likely to stop child labor in their factories in order to regain the trust of the customer.

34. Don’t invest in companies using child labor
There is plenty of money that is invested in companies all around the globe.
However, investment fonds and other investors should be quite careful in what kind of business they are investing.
Even if the investment is profitable, if it is done with the help of child labor, investors should not invest in it to set an example.
By doing so, firms would have the incentive to produce without child labor in order to get new funding.
This in turn would mitigate the problem of child labor and its adverse consequences.

35. Decrease consumption levels
Since consumers are in many cases not aware under which circumstances their products have been manufactured, an overall decrease in consumption levels would still lead to a reduction in child labor since the fraction of consumption which had been made by child labor would also decrease.
By decreasing consumption levels, especially consumption of products from poor countries which are known to employ child labor, we could mitigate the problem to a certain extent.

36. Reuse and recycle
Reusing and recycling products is also a measure to prevent child labor.
By recycling and reusing stuff, we can reduce the production of new things that may involve child labor.
For example, giving away old clothes that are still nice but can no longer be worn be your child since it grew may make another family happy and also may reduce overall consumption levels which in turn could mitigate the child work problem.

37. Support charity organizations which fight child labor
There are many organizations out there which try to fight child labor.
By supporting these institutions financially or also with your workforce, you can make a big contribution against child labor.

38. Labels Official labels are an important measure to prevent child work.
Customers have to be aware on what they are buying.
If customers can see that their clothes and others products are made without the use of child labor, they are more willing to buy these kinds of clothes.
Conversely, if they see that child labor had been used during the production process, many people may refrain to buy these kinds of products.

39. Raising awareness
In order to fight child labor more efficiently, we have to raise the public awareness on this topic.
Many people simply do not care enough on how their products have been manufactured.
They are tired from their daily life, spend many ours at work and then simply do not want to deal with these kinds of unpleasant questions.
We have to change the behavior of people in a way that they pay more attention to the child labor problem in order to be able to mitigate it.

40. Education
Education is an important part in the fight against child work.
We have to show people how their products have been manufactured and how many children suffered in this process.
This education should already start in school age so that children become aware of the problem and may also raise the attention of their parents on this topic.
After they turn into grownups, these educated children may also pay more attention to their consumption behavior and avoid products that have likely been manufactured with the help of child labor.

41. Convince others
We can all contribute our part to mitigate the child labor problem.
We can even make a bigger impact by convincing family and friends about the adverse effects of child labor.
They may then in turn refrain to buy products made with the help of child work.
Thus, the problem of child labor can be further reduced by convincing other people in your daily life.

42. Conclusion Child labor still is a serious problem in many countries.
It can have severe physical as well as mental effects on the children which are exploited by companies.
There are several measures we can take in our daily life in order to prevent child labor through our consumption behavior.
If nobody buys items made by child labor, companies will refrain to use child labor in the future.
Therefore, through our daily actions, we can solve or at least mitigate the child labor issue to a significant extent.

43. Sources
ication/wcms_ pdf