Peer-reviewed article
Eliminating child labour: what needs to be done?
Ramya Subrahmanian ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001Child labour increased during the COVID-19 pandemic as families used it as a coping strategy in response to schooling disruption, health shocks, and economic insecurity. The informal economy in developing countries creates low adult wages and job precarity without social security access. Poor quality education and broader social inequalities push children into work, damaging their development and trapping families in intergenerational poverty.
Key points
- Child labour increased during COVID-19 pandemic peaks in 2020-2022 as a family coping mechanism
- The large informal sector in developing economies offers low adult wages and precarious employment without social security
- Insufficient and low-quality early childhood, elementary and secondary education contributes to child labour
- Child labour is driven by broader social inequalities and livelihood insecurity
- Child labour perpetuates intergenerational poverty while hindering children's development
Limitations
This excerpt does not provide empirical data or specific evidence of what interventions work to eliminate child labour. It presents the problem and context but does not describe or evaluate specific solutions or programmes.
Abstract
Projected and real increases in children’s work and labour during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic1 between 2020 and 2022 point to a harsh reality in many parts of the world–child labour still remains a major coping strategy for families when faced with schooling disruption, health and economic shocks and livelihood insecurity arising from broader social inequalities. The disproportionately large size of the informal sector in many developing economies results in both low wages for adults and the precarity of jobs, with workers unable to access social security. Alongside insufficient and low-quality early childhood, elementary and secondary education, this often places children at the forefront of family survival strategies, hindering both their development and perpetuating intergenerational poverty.