Approximately 12% of children and adolescents 5-17 years of age work in the Dominican Republic. At the same time, adolescents and young people aged 15-24 face great challenges in finding employment due to the high levels of unemployment in the country. In this context, the report "Understanding child labor and youth employment" analyzes how child labor and youth employment problems form two sides of the same process, in which the educational variable plays a central role.

Developed jointly by the Government, the Understanding Child Labor Program , the International Labor Organization , the United Nations Children's Fund and the World Bank, this report aims to provide a common basis for action to address child labor and youth employment through four interrelated objectives: 1) improve the information base on child labor and youth employment in order to inform and guide political and program responses; 2) promote policy dialogue in both areas; 3) analyze the relationship between early school dropout, child labor and the future situation in the labor market; and 4) strengthen national capacity for regular collection and analysis of data on child labor and youth employment.

To this end, the economic and social determinants of child labor and youth employment have been reviewed, based on the National Survey of Multiple Purpose Homes (ENHOGAR) of 2009-2010 , as well as the National Survey of Labor Force (ENFT ) of 2012 for the analysis of youth employment .

Why are child labor and youth employment problems two sides of the same process? How does education intervene?

Children and adolescents who are deprived of education lack the necessary skills base that qualifies them to access decent work. In this way, they expose themselves to unemployment, poorly paid jobs and precarious work in dangerous conditions. As adults, they are more likely to receive low income, to find themselves in a situation of job insecurity, unemployment or poverty, and to depend on the work of their sons and daughters, which perpetuates the cycle of poverty and child labor.

Poor prospects for decent employment in youth and adulthood could discourage people from investing in education. Parents, who do not feel significant changes to keep their sons and daughters in school, choose to put them to work. Therefore, when formulating policies, child labor and youth employment must be seen as mutually influencing issues.

Main findings of the report

Approximately 12% of children and adolescents 5-17 years of age work in the Dominican Republic. At the same time, adolescents and young people aged 15-24 face great challenges in finding employment due to the high levels of unemployment in the country.

The service sector concentrates 60% of children and adolescents aged 6-13 years who work; agriculture ranks second (30%); and manufacturing, the third (6%). 40% of girls and adolescent women aged 6-13 who work in the service sector work as domestic servants in third-party homes, where they are especially vulnerable to different types of abuse. Most of the children and adolescents who work (almost 36%) do so with the family and without remuneration.

There is a high exposure to mistreatment and abuse at work. 53 thousand children and adolescents aged 5-17 years (19%) are exposed to at least one abusive condition (see Figure 19 of the study). The most common are mistreatment with shouting and insults and not receiving the agreed remuneration. The proportion of those subjected to more serious forms of abuse is also significant: 5% indicate having remained confined in the workplace; 3% report physical abuse; and 1% say they have been subjected to sexual abuse. Again, men are more exposed to abusive conditions than women (see Table 10 of the study).

Children and adolescents who work have a lower school life expectancy (EVE). The EVE indicates the total number of years of schooling that a boy or girl can be expected to attend satisfactorily. Therefore, a relatively higher school life expectancy leads to a greater probability of reaching higher educational levels. The EVE indicates that when children enter school, those who work are expected to stay less time than those who do not. Up to age 9, the difference in EVD is about half a year. With age, the gap narrows, although always favoring the group of those who do not work.

Quality problems in the education system are also important. The student-teacher ratio in primary education, for example, is higher than the regional average (26 versus 22 students per teacher); and well above the regional average in secondary education (28 compared to 17 students per teacher). Schools are often overcrowded, and for this reason they must operate in multiple shifts. The performance of Dominican third and sixth grade students on regional standardized tests in reading and mathematics is one of the lowest. Since the 1990s, performance has declined relative to other countries. Problems related to the quality of educational services are partly due to the low levels of public spending: in 2010,