SOCIO-ECONOMIC DETERMINANTS OF CHILD LABOR EXPLOITATION: THE CASE STUDY OF JIMMA TOWN, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

This study was initiated with the objective of identifying socio-economic factors of child labor exploitation in Jimma town, Ethiopia for which a cross sectional data were collected from 196 sample child laborers of which 80 (40.82%) are females and 116 (59.18%) are males. After collection primary data through a structured questionnaire, the descriptive statistics (frequency distribution, tables, percentages), and econometric model were used to estimate the determinants of child labor coupled with the ordinary least square (OLS) estimation technique. The result from the OLS estimation revealed that child labor exploitation which is measured by child labor hour found to be significantly associated with age of the child, household size, monthly income of child’s parent, sex of the child, and educational level of child’s father and the parents of the child under debt. The study recommends that apart from effective law enforcement and creating awareness in the community about the horrible impact of child labor exploitation on their physical and mental wellbeing, the long lasting solution to curb the problem of child labor and the human capital accumulation is yet to come by overcoming poverty level.