The World Report on Child Labour 2015 : Paving the way to decent work for young people shows that young persons who have been burdened by work as children are more likely to settle for unpaid family jobs and are more likely to be in low paying jobs.
“Our new report shows the need for a coherent policy approach that tackles child labour and the lack of decent jobs for youth together. Keeping children in school and receiving a good education until at least the minimum age of employment will determine the whole life of a child,” ILO Director-General Guy Ryder saidin a statement.
“It is the only way for a child to acquire the basic knowledge and skills needed for further learning, and for her or his future working life,” he added.
The report addresses the twin challenges of eliminating child labour and ensuring decent work for young people. Based on a 12 country survey, it examines the future careers of former child labourers and early school leavers.
The ILO’s most recent estimate is that 168 million children are in child labour, with 120 million of them aged 5 to 14 and as many as many as five million children are in slavery-like conditions.
The main findings of the report are that prior involvement in child labour is associated with lower educational attainment, and later in life with jobs that fail to meet basic decent work criteria.