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Four million children work, some for more than 40 hours a week
A survey released Thursday reported that an estimated 4 million children in the country were in employment, with 1
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A survey released Thursday reported that an estimated 4 million children in the country were in employment, with 1.76 million working long hours, some for more than 40 hours a week.
The survey, conducted by the National Statistics Agency (BPS) and The International Labour Organization (ILO), showed that of the total number of children aged 5 to 17, about 58.8 million, 4.05 million were reported as children in employment.
“The term ‘children in employment’ refers to children aged 10 to 17 who are considered as employed by the standard definition,” the report said.
The definition covers children who engage in economic activities. Children who assist their mothers in domestic chores or housekeeping, for example, do not fall into the employed children definition.
Among children in employment, the ILO separates a group of children who are considered as “child laborers”. Child laborers constitutes those who work more than the country’s law on manpower allows.
“The law says that those under 13 must not [engage in economic activities), 13 to 14-year-olds can work menial jobs for no more than 3 hours a day or 15 hours a week,” Abdul Hakim, monitoring and evaluation specialist at the ILO’s child labor program, said.
Those aged 15-17 can work no more than 40 hours a week. Additionally, the jobs should not be hazardous such as mining or construction jobs, Abdul said.
The survey, conducted as a subsample of the 2009 National Labor Force Survey (Sakernas), took samples in 248 districts. Called Indonesia Child Labor Survey (ICLS), the survey was the first of its kind, the ILO and the BPS said.
“It is to meet the urgent need for an accurate estimate of employed children data and information on their socio-economic characteristics,” the ILO said.
Chief statiscian of the BPS, Rusman Heriawan, said the ICLS did not only provide the numbers of working children but also the socio-economic characteristics of them and their parents.
“This data cannot be provided by other surveys, including the Sakernas, and is too valuable to be ignored by data users,” Rusman said.
Abdul said the report contained findings that showed the depth of the problem faced by the country’s children. “The report shows the severity of the situation,” he said.
“On average, employed children worked for 25.7 hours per week, while those categorized as child laborers worked 35.1 hours,” the report said.
“Twenty one percent of employed children work in hazardous environments, including working for more than 40 hours a week.”
The survey also found that 41.2 percent of 58.8 million (24.3 million) children aged 5-17 undertook housekeeping. Out of the figure, girls outnumbered boys.
