O artigo investiga os determinantes do trabalho infantil no Brasil urbano considerando as diferenças estaduais de renda e de estruturas dos mercados de trabalho. Para tanto, foram estimados modelos com controle para heterogeneidade não observada a partir de um painel de dados das PNADs de 2001 a 2009. Os resultados sugerem que o trabalho infantil está sujeito a persistências temporal e intergeracional, por um lado, e, por outro, que sua intensidade é agravada pela condição de pobreza e pelo grau de informalidade dos mercados regionais nos estados brasileiros.
<p>O artigo investiga a importância da estrutura familiar na determinação do trabalho infantil no meio urbano do Brasil. Para tanto, foram utilizados dados do Censo Demográfico de 2010 e um modelo <italic>probit</italic> para a decisão de oferta de trabalho infantil. Os resultados mostraram que meninos, com 14 anos de idade e cujo pai (mãe) não tem instrução, são mais propensos à entrada precoce no mercado de trabalho. Também foram achadas evidências de que crianças de lares com mãe solteira têm maior chance de trabalharem quando comparadas com crianças oriundas de domicílios biparentais sob responsabilidade do pai e com padrão de renda similar. A condição desfavorável das crianças em lares monoparentais apenas é eliminada quando a renda domiciliar alcança um patamar elevado o bastante para reduzir fortemente a probabilidade de trabalho infantil. A diferença de probabilidade de trabalho infantil entre famílias monoparentais e biparentais é explicada principalmente por diferenças de comportamento entre os tipos de família.</p>
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of family structure on child labor by comparing children of nuclear families headed by the father with children of single-mother families headed by the divorced mother.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses data from Brazilian urban areas provided by the Brazilian Demographic Census of 2010. The empirical approach consists of the estimation of three treatment effect models: the Average Treatment Effect, IV Treatment Effect and Two-Stage Estimator proposed by Lewbel (2012).
Findings
The main findings show that children of single-mother families headed by divorced mothers are more likely to work, compared to children living with both parents. This paper found evidence of a direct effect of family structure parents’ determinant on child participation in labor. The main hypothesis is that the absence of the father paired with exposure to family stress arising from marital dissolution is an indicator toward child labor.
Practical implications
This study implies that in order to combat child labor effectively, it is important to understand deeply its several causes and consider ruptures in family structure, such as divorce, as one of these factors. In addition, location and family’s characteristics also play a role on the decision of child labor. For instance, boys living at metropolis areas have less chance to work. Family’s head education and non-work income affects positively the child well-being by reducing the probability of child labor. On the other hand, the number of siblings increases the chance of child labor. Finally, the results of this study suggest policies to raise awareness among parents about the negative effects of child labor on children during both childhood and adulthood, and that social policies need to act beyond legislation and enforcement, but including family mobilization.
Originality/value
This paper estimates the impact of family structure on child labor using an empirical approach to deal with the endogeneity problem of the treatment.
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