Child labour and the economic recession of 1999 in Colombia

This paper examines the relationship between economic growth, household´s income, child labour and school attendance in Colombia. It also analyses the impact of the economic recession of 1999 on child labour and education. An important contribution of this paper is the use of micro and macro data in the estimation of the empirical models, since they allow analysing micro and macro determinants of child labour. The results show that both household´s earnings and economic growth are relevant for the families´decision-making process regarding education or labour activities of their children. I find that, in colombia, child labouris counter-cyclical and education is procyclical to economic growth. Therefore, higher levels of social income increase children´s welfare providing them with more education and less economic responsabilities. Yhis implies that the main reason why children work in Colombia is poverty. The late nineties´ economic crisis impact on child labour and education was sharp increase of children in the labour force and a slight decrease of school attendance.