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The Education, Labour Market and Health Consequences of Child Labour

Author

Listed:
  • Dehejia, Rajeev H
  • Gatti, Roberta
  • Beegle, Kathleen

Abstract

Though there is a large literature on the determinants of child labour and many initiatives aimed at combating this phenomenon, there is limited evidence on the consequences of child labour for socioeconomic outcomes such as education, occupational choice, wages, and health. Using panel data from Vietnam and an instrumental variables strategy, we evaluate the effect of child labour participation on outcomes over a five-year horizon. We find significant negative impacts of child labour on subsequent school participation and educational attainment. On the other hand, we find that those who worked as children are likely to earn a higher wage as young adults. This effect more than fully offsets the foregone earnings due to reduced schooling, particularly for girls. We find no significant effects of child labour on several indicators of health. This evidence in part accounts for why child labour is such a pervasive phenomenon and suggests that the case against child labour requires both future increases in the returns to schooling (i.e., beyond the five year horizon encompassed by our data set) and that parents are able to borrow (or internally fund) the investment in schooling.

Suggested Citation

  • Dehejia, Rajeev H & Gatti, Roberta & Beegle, Kathleen, 2004. "The Education, Labour Market and Health Consequences of Child Labour," CEPR Discussion Papers 4443, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:4443
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Sim, Armand & Suryadarma, Daniel & Suryahadi, Asep, 2017. "The Consequences of Child Market Work on the Growth of Human Capital," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 144-155.
    2. Del Carpio, Ximena V., 2008. "Does child labor always decrease with income ? an evaluation in the context of a development program in Nicaragua," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4694, The World Bank.
    3. Beegle, Kathleen & Dehejia, Rajeev H. & Gatti, Roberta & Krutikova, Sofya, 2008. "The consequences of child labor : evidence from longitudinal data in rural Tanzania," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4677, The World Bank.
    4. Del Carpio, Ximena V. & Loayza, Norman V., 2012. "The impact of wealth on the amount and quality of child labor," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5959, The World Bank.
    5. Akresh, Richard & Bagby, Emilie & de Walque, Damien & Kazianga, Harounan, 2012. "Child labor, schooling, and child ability," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5965, The World Bank.
    6. Eric V. Edmonds & Nina Pavcnik, 2005. "Child Labor in the Global Economy," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 19(1), pages 199-220, Winter.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Child labour; Returns to education; Health;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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