An Analysis of Child Labor and its Subjective Well-being: Evidence from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Abstract

This study investigates the determinants of child labor, the factors that constitute the welfare of child labor, and the factors that determine the welfare of child labor by providing evidence from three major populated districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), namely, Mardan, Peshawar, and Swat. This employs a structured questionnaire methodology and collects data from 200 households in each district. The research further applies Probit model to estimate the determinants of child labor and finds that income level of household, household head’s employment, household head’s education, joint family structure, and residence in urban location reduces the likelihood of child labor. However, household’s head age, household’ size, debt, and economic shock increase the likelihood of child labor. Additionally, this study uses Rees Good Childhood index to measure and compare the welfare of child labor and non-child labor. The findings suggest that child labor has a lower welfare level as compared to non-child labor. Finally, the OLS technique is applied to estimate the determinants of the welfare of child labor. The findings suggest that the wage of child, safety measures at the workplace, leisure, age, and education promote the welfare of child labor. However, the number of working hours, abuse, and hazardous work, adversely affect welfare of child labor.