The International Labor Organization and UNICEF shared a report which reveals that the progress in the fight against child labor already started to hinder even before the outbreak of Covid-19 as a pandemic. In early 2020, around 160 million children aged between 5 to 17 years were indulged in hazardous and age-inappropriate work. This was an increase from 152 million as of 2016.
Child labor has been seen decreasing in Latin America and Asia but, the numbers are still on a rise in Sub-Saharan Africa. As the infographic shows, 22.4 percent of children aging between 5 to 17 years were engaged in intensive work in 2016. The figure however increased by 24 percent at the beginning of 2020.
Despite the changes, the global share of child labor in Sub-Saharan Africa remained 9.6 percent from 2016 to 2020. This indicates that while the growth of child labor was still there, the burden was switched from one region to region, and hence the global share was not changed.
Child labor in Asia and Latin America involved children between the ages of 12 to 17 that were engaged in self-employed or more employed work. Moreover, many of these children had worked in industries and services, urban work, whereas, several joined their family work of agriculture and it is the sector that offered the most opportunities to the children.
Children working in Asia who missed their education rated 32 to 35 percent. Whereas, in Latin America, 16 percent of child labor was out of their schools. Nearly half of the child laborers are indulged in hazardous work that can not only harm child’s health but their morals and safety as well.
