The rise in child labour and the negative effect of it on child schooling outcomes is an
important policy issue in developing countries. However, despite almost universal
agreement that child labour is undesirable, there is wide disagreement on how to tackle
the problem. The formulation of policies that are effective in curbing child labour
requires a clear understanding of the key determinants of child employment. This
article contributes to the debate by providing an analysis of the key determinants of
child labour and schooling in an upper middle-income country, Botswana. The study
used the Labour Force Survey (LFS) 2005/06 data from the Central Statistics Office
(CSO) and the multinomial logit model for analytical work. The results suggest that
the probability of children working while schooling is negatively and significantly
influenced by the age of the child, being from a female headed household and
employment status of the household head. However the probability of child labour
and schooling is positively and significantly influenced by child education level, the
number of children in the household, and the household head being engaged mainly
in the agricultural sector