Child labor and unfree labor: Evidence from the palm oil sector in Sabah (East Malaysia)

Abstract By focusing on child labor in oil palm production in Sabah (East Malaysia), this study contributes to the ongoing debate about unfree labor from three perspectives. First, the study highlights the importance of measuring the incidence of child labor from an individual basis and subsequently advances discourse on what is acceptable and unacceptable in the context of children’s involvement in oil palm production. Second, it advances children’s voices that reflect their perceptions, everyday realities, and social expectations behind their active participation in oil palm production. Third, it highlights the reoccurrence of unfree labor relations and conditions as a result of employment transition among working children within the agricultural sector and from agricultural to the fishing sector. Here we argue that, although not all children’s participation in oil palm production constitutes child labor, the presence of unfree and unacceptable labor relations and conditions suggests strong indicators of child labor. This study, however, cautions that the blanket use of child labor may not only ignore local dynamics and societal expectations but also hinder effective policy intervention and business actions.