Editing Child labour (section)

==Causes==
[[File:Young girl working.jpg|thumb|upright|Young girl working on a loom in [[Aït Benhaddou]], [[Morocco]], in May 2008]]
[[File:Rice Cultivation Vietnam.1024x768.jpg|thumb|Agriculture deploys 70% of the world's child labour.<ref name="Child Labour" /> Above, child worker on a rice farm in [[Vietnam]].]]

The ILO suggests that poverty is the greatest single cause behind child labour.<ref name="ilo2008a">{{cite web|title=Child labour - causes|year=2008|publisher=ILO, United Nations |url=http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/eurpro/moscow/areas/ipec/causes.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090411145422/http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/eurpro/moscow/areas/ipec/causes.htm|archive-date=11 April 2009}}</ref> For impoverished households, income from a child's work is usually crucial for his or her own survival or for that of the household. Income from working children, even if small, may be between 25 and 40% of the household income. Other scholars such as Harsch on African child labour, and Edmonds and Pavcnik on global child labour have reached the same conclusion.<ref name="ep05">{{cite journal|title=Child Labour in the Global Economy|author1=Eric V. Edmonds|author2=Nina Pavcnik|journal=Journal of Economic Perspectives|volume=19|number=1|date=Winter 2005|pages=199–220|doi=10.1257/0895330053147895|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.un.org/en/africarenewal/vol15no3/153chil4.htm|last=Harsch|first=Ernest |journal=Africa Recovery|title=Child labour rooted in Africa's poverty|volume=15|number=3|date=October 2001|pages=14–15 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20120415095202/https://www.un.org/en/africarenewal/vol15no3/153chil4.htm |archive-date=15 April 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Basu |first1=Kaushik |last2=Van |first2=Phan Hoang |date=June 1998 |title=The Economics of Child Labour |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/116842 |journal=American Economic Review |volume=88 |issue=3 |pages=412–427|jstor=116842 }}</ref>

While poverty is a significant factor, the relationship between poverty and child labor is complex. Research suggests that child labor generally decreases as household productive wealth (measured by agricultural per capita land holding in rural areas) increases. However, there can be a significant spike in the relationship between child labor and landholding at moderate levels of land per capita.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Oryoie |first1=Ali Reza |last2=Alwang |first2=Jeffrey |last3=Tideman |first3=Nicolaus |date=2017-12-01 |title=Child Labor and Household Land Holding: Theory and Empirical Evidence from Zimbabwe |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305750X1730253X |journal=World Development |volume=100 |pages=45–58 |doi=10.1016/j.worlddev.2017.07.025 |issn=0305-750X}}</ref> 

Lack of meaningful alternatives, such as affordable schools and quality education, according to the ILO,<ref name="ilo2008a" /> is another major factor driving children to harmful labour. Children work because they have nothing better to do. Many communities, particularly rural areas where between 60 and 70% of child labour is prevalent, do not possess adequate school facilities. Even when schools are sometimes available, they are too far away, difficult to reach, unaffordable or the quality of education is so poor that parents wonder if going to school is really worth it.<ref name="ep05" /><ref>{{cite web |title=The Relationship between Education and Child Work |last=Boyden|first=Jo|publisher=UNICEF |date=September 1994 |url=http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/crs9.pdf |access-date=3 April 2024}}</ref>

===Cultural factors===
In European history when child labour was common, as well as in contemporary child labour of modern world, certain cultural beliefs have grounded it. Some view that work is good for the character-building and skill development of children. In many cultures, particular where the informal economy and small household businesses thrive, the cultural tradition is that children follow in their parents' footsteps; child labour then is a means to learn and practice that trade from a very early age. Similarly, in many cultures the education of girls is less valued or girls are simply not expected to need formal schooling, and these girls pushed into child labour such as providing domestic services.<ref name="ilo2008a" /><ref>{{cite web|title=CHILD LABOUR: ISSUES, CAUSES AND INTERVENTIONS |first1=Faraaz |last1=Siddiqi |first2=Harry Anthony |last2=Patrinos |publisher=The World Bank |year=1999 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Arvind-Singh-21/post/What_are_the_reasons_behind_the_creation_of_child_labours_How_it_can_be_solved/attachment/5ac0c8434cde260d15d626fc/AS%3A610574106910725%401522583619297/download/Child_Labor_issues.pdf |access-date=3 April 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Child Labour in Latin America: Poverty as Cause and Effect |last=Tauson |first=Michaelle |year=2009 |url=http://www.du.edu/korbel/hrhw/researchdigest/latinamerica2/digest-human%20rights%20in%20latin%20america%20vol%202-childlabour.pdf }}{{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Child Labour and Cultural Relativism: From 19th Century America to 21st Century Nepal|last=D'Avolio|first=Michele|journal=Pace International Law Review|date=Spring 2004|volume=16|issue=1|pages=109–145 |doi=10.58948/2331-3536.1160 |s2cid=152411350 |url=http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/pilr/vol16/iss1/5/|doi-access=free}}</ref>

===Macroeconomics===
Biggeri and Mehrotra have studied the macroeconomic factors that encourage child labour. They focus their study on five Asian nations including India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines. They suggest<ref name="mbsm">{{cite book|title=Asian Informal Workers: Global Risks, Local Protection|first1=Mario |last1=Biggeri |first2=Santosh |last2=Mehrotra |publisher=Routledge|year=2007|isbn=978-0-415-38275-5}}</ref> that child labour is a serious problem in all five, but it is not a new problem. Macroeconomic causes encouraged widespread child labour across the world, over most of human history. They suggest that the causes for child labour include both the demand and the supply side. While poverty and unavailability of good schools explain the child labour supply side, they suggest that the growth of low-paying informal economy rather than higher paying formal economy is amongst the causes of the demand side. Other scholars too suggest that inflexible labour market, size of informal economy, inability of industries to scale up and lack of modern manufacturing technologies are major macroeconomic factors affecting demand and acceptability of child labour.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Policy Analysis of Child Labour: A Comparative Study|first1=Christiaan |last1=Grootaert |first2=Harry Anthony |last2=Patrinos |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=1999|isbn=978-0312221225}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Child Labour and the Division of Labour in the Early English Cotton Mills|last=Galbi|first=Douglas |journal=Journal of Population Economics|year=1997|volume=10 |issue=4|pages= 357–375 |url=http://www.galbithink.org/child.pdf|doi=10.1007/s001480050048|pmid=12293082|s2cid=5858814}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Brown, D. K. |author2=Deardorff, A. V. |author3=Stern, R. M.|title=Child Labour: Theory, Evidence, and Policy (Chapter 3, International Labour Standards: History, Theory, and Policy Options)|pages=194–247|doi=10.1002/9780470754818.ch3|isbn=9781405105552|chapter=Child Labor: Theory, Evidence, and Policy|year=2003| url=http://www.fordschool.umich.edu/rsie/workingpapers/Papers451-475/r474.pdf |chapter-url=http://ase.tufts.edu/econ/papers/200111.pdf}}</ref>