Understanding the Causes and Impacts of Child Labor in Pakistan: A Mix- Method Study

Abstract

Like most of the underdeveloped countries, Pakistan is striving to combat child labor, especially in urban megacities, such as Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad etc. where the gap between the wealthy and destitute is enormous. This is a mixed-method research inquiry into the highly diverse reasons and significant consequences of child labor highlighting its roots in poverty, the inability to obtain good education, its normalization in society, and the laxity in enforcing the law. Child labor remains a big problem in Pakistan, mainly in the fields of agriculture, domestic work, brick kiln, carpet weaving and small-scale industries. Indeed, including Pakistan, millions of children around the world still work under hazardous and exploitative labor circumstances. Such children are often denied the right to education, health care, and having a safe childhood, which influences their psychological, emotional, and intellectual improvement. Incorporating these quantitative and qualitative sources of data, this study aims at establishing the factors that have enabled families to employ their children, and the experiences the children have gone through. By putting emphasis on Lahore, it becomes evident that the study reveals urban aspects of child labor and structural faults that support it. It is hoped that the resulting findings will help in making better policy decisions and intervention measures towards not only alleviating child labor, but also towards curbing its causes and effects to promote the rights of children and their development as long-term human capital within Pakistan.