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Implications of Child Labour Earnings for Household Well-Being in Cameroon

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Child Labor in the Developing World

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Abstract

This chapter attempts to evaluate the implications of child labour earnings for household well-being in Cameroon, using individual records of the 2007 Cameroon household consumption survey. Specifically, the study aims at investigating how child labour earnings affect both subjective and objective household well-being. In order to control for potential endogeneity, heterogeneity of responses to well-being and intra-household correlation problems, use is made of an ordered probit model and a control function econometric approach. This study has policy implications as it informs us whether or not child labour is necessary for household subsistence and enables us to start understanding why parents continue to ignore conventions against child labour.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Reference here is made to the 1985 exchange rates.

  2. 2.

    Which measures the gap between the average annual expenditure per adult equivalent consumption of poor households and the poverty line is 12.3%.

  3. 3.

    Since the 7,131,000 poor within the entire territory in 2007 corresponds to 5,211,000 when the adult equivalent scale is considered.

  4. 4.

    This occurred in 1993.

  5. 5.

    With this reaching 50% in some areas as noted by Cockburn 2000.

  6. 6.

    Well-being was implicitly considered through poverty.

  7. 7.

    He tried to solve this by retrieving child income from household income.

  8. 8.

    A survey by the Subregional Project for the Fight against the Trafficking of Children in West and Central Africa (LUTRENA).

  9. 9.

    1 US dollar = 500 CFA F on average.

  10. 10.

    See Strauss and Thomas (2007).

  11. 11.

    The measurement error that causes endogeneity in this case is that linked to child labour.

  12. 12.

    As in the case of the IV approach.

  13. 13.

    This is used in order to oppose it from collective households that include boarding, barracks, hospitals and convents.

  14. 14.

    Household composition, health, education and employment of household members.

  15. 15.

    Introduction to SAS UCLA: Statistical Consulting Group from http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/sas/notes2/ (accessed November 24, 2007).

  16. 16.

    It is a call for concern if tolerance is 0.1 or less and when VIF is 10 or greater, respectively.

  17. 17.

    This is evident in Cameroon where children work sometimes for 18 hours per day for 3000 CFA francs per month (LUTRENA, 2003).

  18. 18.

    1 US dollar = 500 CFA F on average.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, Higher Teacher Training College, University of Bamenda, Bamenda, Cameroon

    Fabien Sundjo

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  1. School of Economics, Finance & Marketing, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Alberto Posso

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Sundjo, F. (2020). Implications of Child Labour Earnings for Household Well-Being in Cameroon. In: Posso, A. (eds) Child Labor in the Developing World. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3106-4_8

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