Is Child Labor Harmful? The Impact of Working Earlier in Life on Adult Earnings

Emerson, Patrick M.; Portela Souza, Andre

doi:10.2139/ssrn.1015498

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Is Child Labor Harmful? The Impact of Working Earlier in Life on Adult Earnings

IZA Discussion Paper No. 3027

55 Pages Posted: 3 Nov 2007

See all articles by Patrick M. Emerson

Patrick M. Emerson

Oregon State University - Department of Economics; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Andre Portela Souza

Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) - Sao Paulo School of Economics

Date Written: September 2007

Abstract

This paper explores the question: is working as a child harmful to an individual in terms of adult outcomes in earnings? Though an extremely important question, little is known about the effect of child labor on adult outcomes. Estimations of an instrumental variables earnings model on data from Brazil show that child labor has a large negative impact on adult earnings for male children even when controlling for schooling and that the negative impact of starting to work as a child reverses at around ages 12-14.

Keywords: child labor, Brazil, adult outcomes

JEL Classification: J31, O12, O54

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Emerson, Patrick M. and Portela Souza, Andre, Is Child Labor Harmful? The Impact of Working Earlier in Life on Adult Earnings (September 2007). IZA Discussion Paper No. 3027, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1015498 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1015498