Social and Cultural Determinants of Child Labor in Pakistan

Abstract

Child labor has serious consequences upon children, their families and even on the larger spectrum of society as well. The researchers have predominantly utilized quantitative research design along-with qualitative discussion and a survey of the various mechanical workshops in Batkhela city was conducted in September 2013. For quantitative analysis, a list of all the population of children was prepared i.e. 4355 children working in different capacities (average 02 to 08 children were found working) and a sample of 200 children age 05 to 18 year were selected randomly giving maximum representation to the mentioned age group. The data was collected by using an interview schedule and the information was then processed through different phases (i.e. editing, classification, and presentation) through SPSS (Version 18) and in Excel and MS Word for tabulation and charts presentation. Through Chi-Square Test, the association of various determinants of child labor has been analyzed at the 5 % level. Besides, ‘Human Capital Theory’ and ‘Demand and supply Factors’ have been kept as theoretical orientation. The data shows that child labor in the area is the outcome of various social, cultural factors including joint family system, divorce, familial conflicts, agriculture-based-economy and large family size.