POLICY
In Pakistan, many people engage children for running their businesses and for performing various domestic household chores. According to the constitution, 14-year-olds and younger children are not allowed to work and should be in school. Article 25A of the constitution states that the government is bound to provide free and compulsory education to all children of ages 5-16 years.
However, children between the ages of (15-18) years are allowed to work under strict conditions, which are regulated by the Employment of Children (Prohibition) Act (1991). With labour having become a purely provincial subject in the post-18th Amendment period, the provinces are in the process of adopting this Act as part of the provincial labour laws. Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have already replaced it.
The provincial governments are also working on other legislations to eliminate employment of children in workplaces and enrol them in schools. To develop and enact legislation to effectively deal with the problem of child labour, information on occupations of where working children are concentrated is essential.
The Pakistan Labour Force Survey (LFS) – an annual survey of the country’s workforce - can serve as an important source of information in this regard. The LFS collects information of the economically active population aged 10 years and above in the country. In addition, the recent rounds of LFS now provide comprehensive information on occupational status of the employed labour force at the four digit level of the Pakistan Standard Classification of Occupational (2012).
Analysis of LFS survey for 2014-15 reveals that in spite of the ban on children’s employment and commitment for compulsory schooling, 2.14 million children aged 10-14 are employed. These working children constitute four percent of the total employed in the country, and nine percent of the population of children in this age group. The bulk of employed children, at 59 percent are in Punjab, which is followed by Sindh (26 percent), while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan account for only eight percent and seven percent of the employed children, respectively.
As per gender disaggregation, 61 percent of these working children are boys, and 39 percent are girls. Majority of the employed children at two million (88 percent) are working in the rural areas and are illiterate (67 percent). The average age of these employed children is 12 years. The rural-urban bifurcation at the provincial level shows that in all four provinces, the majority are found in rural areas, with the highest share being in the rural districts of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, although, in terms of absolute numbers they are not very high.
Total 84 occupation sub-categories are reported where these children work. At the national level, around 34 percent children are working in livestock and dairy, 20 percent are mixed-crop and animal workers, 10 percent field crop and vegetable growers/producers, while eight percent are crop farm labourers. In the non-agricultural sectors, three percent of the working children are shop keepers, 2.25 percent manufacturing labourers not elsewhere classified, two percent work as tailors, dressmakers, furriers and hatters, 1.99 percent are into sewing and doing related works like embroidery, 1.88 percent work as shop sales assistants, 1.26 percent as motor vehicle mechanics and repairers, 1.22 percent are waiters, 1.3 percent are handicraft workers in textile, leather and related materials, 1.48 percent are domestic cleaners and helpers, while 1.8 percent are building and construction labourers.
This shows that a significant majority of working children are engaged in agriculture and livestock related occupations, accounting for more than 72 percent of the 2.14 million working children in 2014-15. Similarly, the provincial disaggregation by occupational groups reveals a similar pattern, ie, the bulk of children are employed in agriculture, with substantial majority in the sub occupation of livestock and dairy in the provinces of KP, Punjab and Sindh, while in Balochistan highest share of working children within agriculture is found in the field crop and vegetable growers sub-category.
A relatively small proportion of children are observed to be employed in the non-agricultural sector across all four provinces. As per the analysis by sub occupational groups most of these children are working as handicraft workers in textile and leather in Balochistan, followed by Punjab, where they are sewing, embroidering and doing related work, as well as working as manufacturing labourers.
A majority of these children are working 35-44 hours per week in Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan. However, in KP, majority of the working children are working up to 29 hours per week.
Most of these children fall in the category of contributing family workers, defined as workers who work without pay in cash or in-kind in an agricultural/ non-agricultural enterprise operated by a member of their household or other related persons, at the national level and across all the four provinces. This is followed by paid employees in Punjab, Sindh and KP.
An overwhelming majority of working children falling in the paid employees category is seen to be earning Rs5,000-10,000 per month in Balochistan, while in the other provinces (KP, Punjab, Sindh), these working children are earning up to Rs5,000 per month. In all these provinces, the minimum wage set for unskilled workers is Rs14,000 per month.
As most of the working children are found in the category of contributing family workers (both in the agricultural and non-agricultural households), the occupation of the head of household of these children is also analysed. The LFS data reveals that, at the national level, 24 percent of the household heads of these working children are owner cultivators, 20 percent are share croppers and 14 percent are own account workers (non-agriculture).
On the supply side of child labour, the LFS data also gives an alarming statistic on unemployment rate of children aged 10-14 years, which stands at nearly 10 percent in 2014-15. This implies that 10 percent of the economically active population of children in this age bracket is currently out of work, but are actively looking for work and available for work. The gender breakup shows that the unemployment rate of boys is twice that of girls (12.2 percent vs six percent). The majority of the unemployed children at 70 percent are living in rural areas and, in terms of the provincial distribution 89 percent of these unemployed children are living in Punjab.
The above analysis brings forth the point that all four provinces have different realties regarding child labour. However, the common denominator is that the majority of working children are concentrated in agriculture related activities across all provinces.
Currently, there are no laws regulating the employment of children in the agricultural sector, where children are most vulnerable to be exposed to work that is detrimental to their future physical and mental development. An overwhelming majority of working children are engaged as contributing family workers in agricultural activities being undertaken by their own households. This leads one to question whether rural households engage their own children in farming and livestock activity out of sheer economic compulsion or is it because of the prevailing cultural norms that dictate that children help out their family in earning their livelihoods.
If this is due to the latter factor then it is an uphill task for the concerned provincial governments to get these children out of the fields and into the schools where they rightfully belong. If this situation is prevalent due to economic pressure, then perhaps government intervention in the form of cash transfers, through the Benazir Income Support Programme can help address some of this problem. There is, of course, a need to develop proper legislation for regulating work in the agriculture sector, but this legislation, must be formulated keeping in view the household dynamics in our rural society.
The writer works at the Planning Commission
