Child labor and schooling in Ghana

Type Working Paper - World Bank Policy Research Working Paper
Title Child labor and schooling in Ghana
Author(s)
Issue 1844
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 1997
URL http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/1997/11/01/000009265_39802031​15439/Rendered/PDF/multi_page.pdf
Abstract
This paper analyzes the determinants of child labor in conjunction with decision to school of Ghanaian children between the ages of 7 through 14 using national household surveys conducted between 1987-92. The paper briefly reviews some of the salient literature on child labor, especially those relevant to the phenomena in Africa, and presents tabular and multivariate analysis of the data. Unlike Asia, the majority of child labor in Africa, and especially in Ghana, is unpaid work and takes place in family agricultural enterprises. Of the 28 percent of children involved in child labor more than two-thirds were also simultaneously schooling. Of all the children between 7-14 years around 90 percent were involved in household chores. The paper does not address the issue of street kids which does not imply they are less important. The paper shows there are some clear gender based distinctions in the type of tasks performed by a girl and boy worker; girls do more household chores, while boys are in labor force. Our data does not convincingly show, as most literature claim, that poverty is the main culprit of child labor; however, poverty is significantly correlated with decision to school. Using bivariate probit models with varying specifications and variables the paper clearly shows that there is a significant negative relationship between going to school and working; increasing schooling demand is the effective way of reducing child labor and ensure that Ghana’s human capital is stabilized. The high cost of schooling and the low quality and weak relevance of education has also pushed many children into work. Family characteristics have a big role to play in child’s decision to school or work. Fathers’ education has a significant negative effect on child labor; the effect is stronger for girls than boys. Given that child labor is least researched in Africa, this paper provides a comprehensive analysis of child labor in Ghana in the African context.

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