Part-time Child: Analysis of the Relations between Cheap Labor Economy and Child Labor

Abstract

Child labor is almost an invisible phenomenon. Around the world about 250 million children aged 5 to 14 are working in developing countries, yet the stories of these children are rarely documented. For one, most children who engage in labor do so without wages. Children’s labor is not reflected very well by a country’s GNP. According to Payne and Nassar (1987), in an economy where wages are significantly low, child labor is the cheapest labor of all. The study focuses on the stories of 28 working children in the areas of Ermita, Malate and Paco, Manila. Its main objective is to determine how a cheap labor economy influences child work in these areas. Specific objectives of the study are (a) to determine the rights of a child in relation to the issue of child employment, (b) to explain the concept of “cheap labor” and describe the ways through which children are engaged in labor in a cheap labor economy, (c) to examine the situation of child workers in the areas of Ermita, Malate and Paco, Manila, and (d) to suggest measures in child labor research which may help in understanding and addressing the needs of working children. The study rests upon a “Global Cheap-Labor Economy” (GCE) framework. Michel Chossudovsky (1997) in his book called The Globalization of Poverty used the term “global cheap-labor economy” to explain how a global surplus of labor results in low wages for transnational industries operating in developing countries. Chossudovsky maintains that “many regions of the world - although not ‘actively’ inserted into the global cheap labour economy - contain important ‘reserves of cheap labour’ which play an important role in regulating the costs of labour at a world level.” Child work, which was described by Ballescas (1987) as “cheap”, “docile” labor, becomes part of this global surplus of labor. The conceptual framework of the study shows that the effects of a cheap labor economy reach the working child in two ways. On the supply side of child labor, precipitates of a cheap labor economy filter down to the child through the household. In the hope of coping with high prices of needs, a family who earns little income from low wages resorts to child work. On the demand side, child workers experience the hardships of cheap labor when their workplaces manifest conditions which are unfavorable to the child. In effect, working takes a toll on the children’s growth and development. From the survey and interviews conducted for the study, it was revealed that working children in the areas of Ermita, Malate and Paco indeed experience the effects of cheap labor. Of the children interviewed 46% worked 5 to six days a week and a striking 47% work for 9 or more hours a day. Almost every child is employed in more than one job. Some members of the group started working as early as 4 and 5 years old and in effect, at least 82% of the children do not attend school. Furthermore, most of the earning members of the children’s families are engaged in low-wage employment. Asked regarding their reasons for working, 82% of the children responded “upang makatulong sa pamilya". 64% said “dahil sa kahirapan” and 43% answered “may trabaho ngunil hindi sapat ang kit a ng aking mga magulang. ” Bong and Del Rosario (2000) wrote that working robs a child of his/her childhood. This small study hopes to contribute to the growing effort to help child workers experience their childhood full-time.