What Are Some Facts about Child Labor?

Facts about child labor are startling and frustrating, but many people and organizations are working to end this practice. The United Nations’ Target 8.7, in its Sustainable Development Goals, says its members need to “take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labour in all its forms.”[1] Even with such a directive, however, child labor remains a thorny, complicated problem to solve worldwide.

Across the globe, about 152 million children are forced into child labor. Some companies use children to maximize their gain as children are the least expensive labor. Additionally, children have little to no bargaining power and they are easy to manipulate. Because there are so many desperately impoverished families, employers can take advantage of their dire need for extra income.[2]

Unscrupulous companies are only part of the complex problem. Desperate families who are trying to survive day to day can be some of the most unwilling to accept child labor laws, as they could remove a source of income for the family and throw them further into food insecurity or even starvation.

In some parts of the world, for example, a single child working in cotton fields can contribute as much as a quarter of a family’s income.[3] The focus of these families is frequently simply on staying alive, not seeing how sacrificing their child’s education now leads to the perpetuation of poverty in the future.[4] These facts make solving child labor much harder than simply passing some laws.