Brazil: Child Labor Drops 14.6% In One Year

By Vitor Abdala

The number of children and adolescents aged 5–17suffering under child labor reached 1.607 million in 2023, as per official data released Friday (Oct. 18). The figure is 14.6 percent lower than 2022’s 1.881 million and the lowest since this time series began, back in 2016.

Brazil’s statistics bureau IBGE, which coordinated the survey, defines child labor as work harmful to children’s mental, physical, social, or moral health and development, which interferes with their schooling. Brazilian law bans children under 13 from working under any circumstances.

Teenagers aged 14 and 15 can only work as apprentices. Those aged 16 and 17, on the other hand, can have formal jobs, provided they are not in unhealthy, dangerous activities or at night. Any situation that deviates from these rules falls under child labor.

From 2016 to 2019, child labor showed yearly declines, from 2.112 million in the first year of the historical series to 1.758 million in 2019.

After two years without conducting surveys due to the COVID-19 pandemic, IBGE found that the indicator had risen for the first time in 2022—seven percent from 2019.

IBGE researcher Gustavo Fontes said the pandemic may have played a role, but without statistics for 2020 and 2021, a correlation is difficult to establish.

In 2023, the data improved again due to factors such as higher household income.

“The year of 2023 was favorable for the labor market. There was a significant gain in per capita household income. There was also a significant increase in average income and in the total number of households covered by [cash transfer program] Bolsa Família. There may also be effects of public policies aimed at eliminating child labor,” Fontes said.

Dangerous work

The study also found that, of the 1.607 million children and adolescents in child labor, 586 thousand were engaged in activities with health or safety risks. In this case, a 22.5 percent slump was observed from 2022’s 756 thousand.

Of last year’s victims, 84 thousand aged 5–13 and 153 thousand aged 14–15. The other 349 thousand aged 16–17. The majority were boys (76.4%) and black or mixed-race (67.5%).

Duration

The survey also found that 20.6 percent of kids involved in child labor were subjected to this situation for 40 hours or more a week. The highest proportion was found in the oldest age group (16–17 years old): 31.1 percent.

Of young people aged 14 and 15, this percentage reached 14.1 percent, and among the youngest (5–13 years old) the rate was 0.4 percent.

Among children aged five to 13, it was found that child labor did not compromise school attendance, since the kids subjected to this type of activity had an attendance rate of 99.6 percent—higher than the average for this population (99%).

“However, as we get older, school attendance becomes more compromised,” Fontes pointed out.

Income

Some of the children and adolescents in child labor worked in commerce and vehicle repair (26.7%) or in agriculture, cattle ranching, forestry, fishing, and aquaculture (21.6%).

The average monthly income of children and adolescents facing child labor was BRL 771, lower than the average for workers in this age group not in this situation—BRL 1,074. For those subjected to hazardous child labor, the average income was even lower, BRL 735.