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120 Int'l Lab. Rev. 31 (1981)
Economic Roles of Children in Low-Income Countries

handle is hein.journals/intlr120 and id is 45 raw text is: International Labour Review Vol. 120, No. 1, January-February 1981 Economic roles of children in low-income countries Gerry RODGERS and Guy STANDING* 1. Introduction Most children work, in one sense or another. Some of this work involves wage employment; a good deal consists of tasks around the home; much more lies in a statistical limbo, not treated as conventional labour force activity but of evident economic and social significance. According to an estimate of the ILO Bureau of Statistics there were 56 million children in employment in the world in 1976 (ILO, 1979a). Other estimates have suggested that the number is much greater (e.g. ILO, 1979b). But the very mention of a figure excites a sense of scepticism. What does it mean? How is it possible to encompass realistically the different aspects of child work in a single number? But if scepticism is entirely warranted, the existing data-unreliable though they may be-are still enough to indicate that the extent of child work is enormous, and it can safel, be asserted that the available international data chronically understate th, number of children involved in economic activity. The measurement of child work cannot be divorced from its economic and social significance. Traditionally, a welfare perspective has been adopted, by which child labour is regarded as an evil to be eliminated. But it is difficult to make a general welfare judgment on the work of children that can be maintained across time and cultures. In many societies, partic- ularly in low-income rural areas, a gradual incorporation of the child into work activity occurs between the ages of about 5 and 15 so that, whether for good or for bad, child work is part of the process of socialisation. The employment of children also often provides an important supplement to the incomes of poor families. But child labour frequently involves diverse forms of exploitation, in which the beneficiaries are members either of another class or of another generation. Exploitation is perhaps an overused term. Two particular aspects of exploitation are relevant to this paper: firstly, the extent to which part of * International Labour Office. Copyright 0 International Labour Organisation 1981

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