United States Department of Labor

Appendix: Data Source Descriptions

Statistics on Working Children

Statistics measuring the incidence of child labor in the individual profiles vary by age ranges and the definition used to measure child labor.  There is no internationally endorsed definition on working children, or universally prescribed methodology for collecting data on child labor.  The lack of concepts and methods for collecting child labor data has made it difficult to obtain comparable and reliable statistics across countries on working children. Therefore, estimates on the number of working children presented in this report come from government household surveys and international agencies that use varied age ranges and different definitions to construct child labor statistics.  In general, estimates on the number of working children are likely to be underestimates because the nature of household surveys do not lend themselves to collecting data on children who are working in the informal or illegal sectors of the economy, particularly children in the worst forms of child labor. 

Resources used in this report for child labor statistics that use household surveys such as national census or labor force surveys come from ILO’s Yearbook of Labor Statistics and World Bank’s World Development Indicators.  Estimates on the number of working children from these sources are generally based on the definition of the “economically active population” which restricts the labor force activity of children to “paid” or “unpaid” employment, military personnel, and the unemployed.  The definition does not include children in informal work settings, non-economic activities, or “hidden” forms of work such as domestic service, prostitution, or armed conflict.

Other sources on child labor statistics come from ILO-IPEC’s SIMPOC and UNICEF’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) that are specifically designed to measure the extent of child labor in a country.   Although these surveys also employ the definition of “economically active”, the universe for working children is extended to include work activities outside the definition, which would capture children working in the informal sector and domestic work.  However, the methods for collecting data on the worst forms of child labor are also still inadequate. 

Another main source used in this report is from country statistics on child labor provided by the Inter-Agency Research Cooperation Project on “Understanding Children’s Work” (UCW) from the ILO, UNICEF, and the World Bank.  The UCW project has compiled statistics from 32 countries that use both traditional household surveys and child labor surveys.  Estimates on the number of working children from this source also vary by age ranges and definitions.

In determining which source to use in presenting estimates on child labor for the individual profiles, priority is given to statistics collected from child labor surveys such as the ILO-IPEC SIMPOC survey or the UNICEF MICS survey.  In instances where data is not available specifically from a child labor survey, estimates based on household survey data from the UCW project are presented to reflect the number of children working, children who combine school and work, and children who work in household chores for a specified amount of time.  Finally, countries that do not have data on working children from a child labor survey or the UCW project draw on estimates from ILO’s Yearbook of Labor Statistics or the World Bank’s World Develop Indicators.  In some cases, recent statistics from child labor surveys do not exist, and estimates from other more recent sources are presented along with estimates from the child labor survey.

Sources of Child Labor Data

Child labor statistics in this report were obtained from the following four main sources:

1. ILO-IPEC Sponsored Child Labor Surveys

Since 1992, ILO-IPEC and ILO-STAT have worked in close collaboration with national statistical agencies and other institutions in several countries to design and implement specialized surveys on child labor.[2844]  Eleven child labor surveys were conducted under the direction ILO-STAT, and administered either as a stand-alone survey or a child labor module as a part of a country’s existing labor force surveys.  In 1998, ILO-IPEC launched SIMPOC in which 34 countries either have completed or are in the process of collecting child labor data.[2845] The population of working children generally includes children between the ages of 5 and 17 who are employed, unemployed, or domestic workers in their own household.  Children who are working are either salaried, self-employed, unpaid family workers, or apprentices. Unlike traditional labor force surveys, the SIMPOC child labor surveys collect data on some work activities in the informal sector.[2846]

2. UNICEF’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS)

In 1998, UNICEF began a process to assist countries assess progress in meeting their goals for the “World Summit for Children” using the MICS questionnaire.[2847]  The MICS questionnaire includes 75 indicators for monitoring children’s rights such as child labor, child survival and health, child nutrition, maternal health, water and sanitation, and education.  Child labor measures consist of children between the ages of 5 and 14 who are paid, unpaid, and work at least 4 hours a day in domestic work.[2848]    About 49 developing countries included the child labor indicator in their MICS questionnaire;[2849] to date, 28 countries have submitted their national reports to UNICEF.[2850]

3. The Inter-Agency Research Cooperation Project on “Understanding Children’s Work”

The “Inter-Agency Research Cooperation Project:  Developing New Strategies for  UCW is a group collaboration between ILO, UNICEF, and the World Bank to minimize the duplication of efforts on child labor statistics among the three agencies, and identify information gaps in the data on child labor. ILO contributes data from its SIMPOC surveys, UNICEF from the MICS questionnaire, and the World Bank from its Living Standards Measurement Survey. The UCW project has country statistics on child labor, schooling and health indicators from government census or household surveys sponsored by at least one of the three agencies.[2851] 

4. Estimates and Projections of the Economically Active Population, 1950-2010

Child labor force participation rates for 1999 from the ILO database Estimates and Projections of the Economically Active Population (EAP), 1950-2010 are taken from World Bank’s World Development Indicators 2001.  Statistics from the ILO’s EAP database are different from statistics from ILO’s SIMPOC child labor surveys.  Labor force participation rates from the EAP database are based on the definition of the “economically active population” for children between the ages of 10 and 14.[2852]  Although the EAP is less accurate in estimating the number of children working below the age of 15, it does provide a useful indicator because it is the only available source for comprehensive and comparable data on working children 10 to 14 years old. [2853]

Sources of Primary School Education Data

Primary school education data for gross and net primary school enrollment were obtained from either the World Development Indicators 2001 or the Education For All 2000 Assessment.  Gross and net primary school attendance rates were obtained from USAID’s Global Education Database.

1. World Development Indicators 2001 (WDI 2001)

The WDI 2001 is an annual compilation by the World Bank on development data gathered from several international and government agencies and private and nongovernmental organizations around the world.  The WDI 2001 includes 800 indicators on topics in six areas:  world view, people, environment, economy, states and markets, and global links.  There are 85 tables covering the six categories with basic indicators on 224 countries.[2854] 

2. Education for All 2000 Assessment

The Education for All (EFA) Year 2000 Assessment Statistical Document is a collection of quantitative data based on an in-depth evaluation of basic education at global, regional, and national levels gathered by UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS).  Data is available for 185 countries.  Indicators examined in this assessment include the demand for education, early childhood education and care, access and trends to primary education, public expenditure on primary education, teacher qualifications, and literacy rates.[2855]

3. Global Education Database 2000 (GED)

The GED provides education data compiled by UNESCO and from USAID Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) sources.  Data include education measures on the performance of a specific country or groups of countries over time in areas such as school enrollments and attendance, public expenditure, and gender parity.  For most of the 145 UNESCO indicators, data are for 1980, 1985, and for single years from 1990 through 1997 or 1998.  DHS statistics are presented for the specific country and year in which surveys were conducted and are reported through 1999.   With over 200 countries represented, the database is a useful tool for cross-country comparisons of education indicators.[2856]