Child labour, future earnings and occupation choice: evidence from Ghana
International Journal of Social Economics
ISSN: 0306-8293
Article publication date: 20 August 2018
Issue publication date: 17 October 2018
Abstract
Purpose
The prevalence of child labour continues to feature prominently on the agenda of many sub-Saharan African countries. The problem remains critical despite existing laws and other legislative instruments that have been put in place to address the situation. The purpose of this paper is to examine a critical consequence of child labour, that is, its effect on future earnings and occupational choice.
Design/methodology/approach
The most recent round of the Ghana Living Standards Survey is used for this purpose. In addition to the Heckman model, the study employs propensity score and nearest neighbour matching techniques to account for the possible self-selection in engaging in child labour activities. Also, the multinomial logit model was employed to determine the choice of occupations of people who were engaged in child labour.
Findings
Results indicate that early labour market entry significantly reduces future earnings, possibly due to lower human capital accumulation. These results remain robust with different estimators. Additionally, results from the second objective show that child labour increases the odds of choosing low-skilled occupations.
Originality/value
In Ghana, the negative consequences of child labour on educational attainment have been well documented. Less, if at all, studied are the long-term consequences of child labour, particularly on future economic status.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors of this paper have not made their research data set openly available. Any enquiries regarding the data set can be directed to the corresponding author.
Citation
Lambon-Quayefio, M.P. and Owoo, N.S. (2018), "Child labour, future earnings and occupation choice: evidence from Ghana", International Journal of Social Economics, Vol. 45 No. 12, pp. 1590-1608. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSE-06-2017-0261
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited