Pinoy children workers estimated at 5.5 M – NSO

QUEZON CITY, Oct 18 (PIA) — The estimated number of working children aged five to 17 years old in the Philippines is about 5.492 million, based on the 2011 Survey on Children conducted by the National Statistics Office.

In this survey, children aged five to 17 years who worked for at least one hour during the past 12 months were considered working. The working children represented 18.9 percent of the total children five to 17 years old.

The survey also reveals the following: three in every 10 children aged five to 17 years, or 29.6 percent, in Northern Mindanao were working; the ratio of working children in the National Capital Region and in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao is one in every 10 children.

It also reveals that for every 10 working children, six were boys; four girls; 46.7 percent of the working children were 15 to 17 years old, 45.1 percent were 10 to 14 years old and 8.2 percent were five to nine years of age.

Out of the 5.492 million working children, 58.4 percent or an estimated 3.210 million were considered in child labor.

Child labor refers to children who have worked in hazardous work environment regardless of the number of hours they spent or those who have worked for longer hours. That is, more than 20 hours a week for children five to 14 years old and more than 40 hours a week for children 15 to 17 years old.

Those identified working in hazardous work environment numbered 2.993 million, comprising 54.5 percent of the total working children.

Meanwhile, two-thirds of the children working in hazardous environment were boys while one-third were girls. Ages five to nine comprised 6.2 percent and while the 44.3 percent were ages 10 to 14. The largest percentage of these children resided in the regions of Central Luzon, 10.6 percent, and Bicol, 10.2 percent.

Sixty-two percent of the children in hazardous labor were working in the agriculture sector, 30.1 percent were in the services sector, and 7.6 percent worked in the industry sector.

For every five children in hazardous labor, two were exposed to physical hazards only and one was exposed to both chemical and physical hazards . The rest were exposed to other types of hazards.

For every 10 children in hazardous labor, four were helping in their own household-operated farm or business while three mentioned to supplement family income as their main reason for working.

Fifty-two percent of boys and 61.8 percent of girls in hazardous labor were unpaid workers in their own household-operated farm or business. A higher proportion of boys than girls, 29.3 percent compared to 20 percent were working in private establishments.

More than half of the children in hazardous labor, 55.4 percent, worked in a farm while those working in their own house comprised the 12.2 percent. (RJB/LFB/NSO-PIA NCR)