Child labour and the economic recession of 1999 in Colombia

This paper examines the relationship between economic growth, households’ 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 sources of child labour. The results show that both households’ 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 labour is contra-cyclical and education is pro-cyclical to economic growth. Therefore, higher levels of social income increase the children’s welfare providing them with more education and less economic responsibilities. This implies that the main reason why children work in Colombia is poverty. The late nineties’ economic crisis impact on child labour and education was a sharp increase of children in the labour force and a slight decrease of school attendance.