Child labour rises, with over 1.0m in hazardous work
FE REPORT | Friday, 15 March 2024
Bangladesh has seen an upswing in child labour, according to a new government survey, as it found there are 1.78 million child labourers in the country -- up from 1.698 million in 2013.
Of particular concern, the National Child Labour Survey-2022 showed that 1.07 million children are engaged in hazardous work. This includes activities that are harmful to their health, safety or development.
The study, released on Thursday, surveyed children aged 5-17 and found that 3.54 million are working in some capacity. The majority, 2.73 million, live in rural areas.
The survey defines child labour based on age and working hours. Children aged 5-11 working for at least an hour, 12-13-year-olds working 25+ hours a week or in hazardous work, and 14-17-year-olds working 48+ hours or in hazardous work are all classified as child labourers.
It found that 35.4 per cent of child labourers are employed in skilled agriculture, forestry and fishery works, followed by craft and related trade works at 25.4 per cent, service and sales works at 18.8 per cent, elementary occupations at 16.9 per cent and other services at 3.5 per cent.
The findings of the survey were released at an event in Dhaka presided over by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) Director General Mizanur Rahman.
State Minister for Planning Shahiduzzaman Sarker and Statistics and Informatics Division Secretary Dr Shahnaj Arefin were also present.
Among the 1.07 million child labourers in hazardous work, 39.8 per cent are engaged in craft trades, 18.9 per cent in skilled agriculture, forestry and fishery work, 18.2 per cent in elementary occupations, 17.4 per cent in service and sales work, 3.2 per cent in plant and machine operators and assemblers and 2.0 per cent in technician and associate professionals, the national survey showed.
Meanwhile, the statistics bureau also unveiled another 'Establishment Based Sector-wise Working Children Survey-2023', which showed that 38,008 children aged between 5-17 years from five major sectors are engaged in hazardous work in Bangladesh.
Of the hazardous child labour in these five sectors, 97.6 per cent are male and 2.4 per cent are female, according to the report.
The Sector-wise Working Children Survey showed that among the five sectors, child labour is most commonly found in automobile workshops, followed by leather-based shoe factories, welding and mechanical works and local tailoring and garment work.
In terms of geographical location, the sector-wise survey showed that 64.3 per cent of child labourers in hazardous work live in urban areas, while the remaining 35.7 per cent live in rural areas of Bangladesh.