This study is conducted to investigate the micro effects of the ASEAN financial crisis on child work in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-lapu.
The household heads from the informal sector tend to have lower levels of education compared with those from the formal sector. This is a clear indication that educational attainment levels have a direct bearing on employment opportunities.
The results of the study tend to indicate that household heads employed in formal sector establishments as production workers are more susceptible to the changes in the economic environment. With the crisis, the firms in which they are employed suffer losses due to increase in production cost, slump in demand and peso devaluation, forcing them to close shop or downsize.
The study shows that child workers tend to come from low-income families engaged in activities in the informal sector of the economy. The parents of these children usually have low levels of education.
Majority of the children worked in order to augment the household income. Of those who received compensation, majority gave some or all of their earnings to their parents.
The work of children is perceived positively by the parents. This is because working children can help their families in terms of financial support or physical assistance. Work is also valued because parents believe that it helps the children become independent and gain positive traits such as sense of responsibility and industriousness.
While the households of the retrenched workers experience drastic declines in their incomes, the study shows that retrenchment does not immediately result to child work. However, if the retrenched workers cannot seek employment anymore in the formal sector, they become part of the informal sector running small-scale, home-based businesses in a more permanent nature. This is the very backdrop against which child work arises. This means that the current crisis which relegates the retrenched workers into the informal sector could lead to an increase in the incidence of child work in the long run.
The following recommendations are given:
Child work will exist as long as poverty persists. Thus, to eliminate child work, poverty must be eradicated. Until that can be done, child work remains to be a reality to a number of children who belong to impoverished households. What can be done is to help these children deal with their reality.
As most of the child workers are in school, instituting programs through the schools can be one of the areas that can be looked into. In addition to the regular curriculum, the schools can provide practical skills training in bookkeeping or accounting to help those who are engaged in small-scale businesses.
In the long run, it will do well to incorporate vocational skills training in our high school curriculum so that students will be qualified to take on jobs as production workers in formal sector establishments. Vocational skills training should also be made accessible to out-of-school youths and adults.
Community-based or school-based centers for child workers can also be set up. These centers can be places where children can go for play, study, counseling and even rest.
To further understand the phenomenon of child work, other studies can be undertaken. Since this study is limited to the household heads as respondents, another study can be conducted with the child workers themselves as respondents.
It would be interesting to know if there are any differences in the points of view of their parents and that of the children themselves. A tracking study can also be conducted in order to determine the long-term effects of children’s work on the latter. This study would seek to determine whether the early exposure to work would affect the individual’s values system, outlook, and attitudes when they become adults.
