Is Child Labor Ethically Right?

This essay explores the ethical considerations surrounding child labor. It discusses the different forms of child labor, the impact on children's development and rights, and the factors that make child labor ethically right or wrong. The essay concludes that child labor can be ethically acceptable to a certain extent, as long as it does not harm the child's well-being and supports their family's livelihood.

Business

Contents
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..............................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION...........................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES............................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
A business is considered as an entity which is entrusted with the task of either
undertaking the trading of goods or services or carrying on any profession. The main motive of
every business is to earn maximum profit or work on to do the welfare for the society. Every
business which is established at large scale cannot be run by a single person so it requires the
workforce which can contribute to the growth and success of the firm. There are many laws
being made to protect the rights of the employees so that no employer can exploit them. There
are many businesses such as manufacturing units, factories which employ children for their
working as well apart from adults. There are many laws being on this topic in order to regulate
the child labor in the states. The internal law also recognizes this issue (Bai and Wang, 2020).
This essay is about whether child labor is ethically right.
MAIN BODY
Whenever any child is forced to work like an adult in any business it is termed as child
labor. There are many laws being made in order to prevent the child labor so that no child is
forced to work during its growth years. Not every work in which a child is involved is
categorized as child labor. The work which does not interfere with a personal and health
development of the child and which does not eliminate them from their right to education can be
termed as positive work. These may include assisting parents in household work etc. Child labor
is something when a child is forced to work which deprive it of their childhood, potential and
dignity and also prevents their physical and mental development. The worst type of child labor is
when the child is forced to get separated from the family and is engaged in any hazardous or
harmful work (Fuller, 2019).
The child labor comprises of many forms of works, out of which the worst one must be
eliminated at first instance which includes all forms of slavery, illicit activities, prostitution, child
trafficking and many others. Hazardous child labor is when a child is involved in such a work
which deprives it from health, safety and morals.
A child is mainly involved in a work which is categorized in 4 different kinds. The first is child
employment where in a child is employed in a work of market production or non-production.

Second is child labor where work is of such a kind which deprives the person of its childhood
and deteriorates its physical and mental development. Third is hazardous work where a child is
involved in hazardous activity which causes danger to its health and safety. It is considered as a
proxy category of worst labor. Last is such kind of work which involves slavery or illicit activity
that may result in separation from family or severe danger to the health. The work which is
ethically right maybe the one which does not danger the mental and physical well-being and
development of the child and does not deprive it from its childhood and rights such as schooling
(Meyer and et. al., 2020).
However, it is the question in every one's mind that whether child labor is ethically
correct or not. The answer to this is that it is ethically right to deploy child in the work activity
for many reasons but to such an extent that it does not harm its growth and development and
deprive it from its childhood.
One such reason for making the child labor ethically right is burden of debt in family due
to poverty. There are many families who are subject to low income or very less income which
places them into the category of poverty. The children work from an early age in order to earn
the livelihood for the family so that their basic needs such as food, shelter and clothing are
fulfilled. It is the responsibility on the child to take care of the family which leads them into child
labor.
Another reason for which the child labor is right is that when the family does not have
adequate resources to compound its children with their right to education it is better to involve
them into child labor so that there is no criminal behavior inculcated in them. A study shows that
a child who grows in an environment where there is no education and he or she is subject to a
bad company, it leads to criminal behavior in it. So in order to prevent criminal activities from it,
the child must be involved in child labor so that it can work to fulfill the basic needs of the
family and grow and develop its efficiency instead of committing any criminal activity.
Child labor is accepted to such an extent where there is no hazardous activity in the place
where the child is employed and they are not subject to long working hours. As far as there are
favorable conditions of working, child labor is ethically right (Colmer, 2021). In order to earn the
basic livelihood of their family if a child is employed in any working, there must be average

working hours for him or her which are fixed by the statute and they must not be engaged in any
such activity which is hazardous or harmful to them. Many businesses employed child labor due
to the fact that they will be ready to work in low wages and also they are tend to be more hard
working as compared to adults, so they involves children in their working but employment must
be subject to statutory requirements (Junaid, Malik and Pei, 2017).
Children are mainly employed in the early years because there is no favorable work for
the adults and the burden of income comes on them. There are many families who are not aware
of the basic rights of children and make it acceptable for them to send their children to work.
There are many instances which makes child labor unethical for many reasons. One such
reason is to protect the rights of children from being exploited when they go for a work.
Whenever a child is involved in any work it results in depriving the child with its right to
education, healthy growth and development and many others. This may result in non-
development of skills which are helpful for the future employment. If a child is working from an
early age and is not getting education, it results in development of no knowledge that is
necessary for the future employment.
Another reason for which the child labor is ethically wrong is that it close downs the
employment opportunities for the adults. Every business knows that employing a child in their
working results in offering fewer wages to them which is profitable for them so they tend to
employ children rather than adults which results in high rate of unemployment. So to curb down
the unemployment rates, it is important to prevent the child labor from the businesses so that the
adults are engaged in the working.
Hence it can be said that child labor is ethically correct to such an extent which does not
harm the physical and mental wellbeing of the child rather the work which supports its family for
earning the livelihood. The work must be such which does not deprive the adults of their
employment and on other hand supports the development of child.

CONCLUSION
It is concluded from the above essay that there are different forms of work in which a
child may get engaged in. The worst form of work is which involves danger to development of
mental and physical well- being and deprives the childhood of the child. The child labor is
ethically correct to a certain extent wherein the well- being of a child is not deteriorated and its
basic rights are promoted. Any work which causes danger or harm to the child must be
eliminated so that there is effective growth and development of the child. In many instances it is
important to support child labor wherein it is important for the child to earn the livelihood for the
family in order to fulfill their basic needs. It also helps in eliminating the criminal behavior in the
child who is involved in any bad company. But when the work which decreases the employment
rate of adult and deprives the child of its right to education must be eliminated from the society.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bai, J. and Wang, Y., 2020. Returns to work, child labor and schooling: The income vs. price
effects. Journal of Development Economics. 145. p.102466.
Colmer, J., 2021. Rainfall variability, child labor, and human capital accumulation in rural
Ethiopia. American Journal of Agricultural Economics. 103(3). pp.858-877.
Fuller, T.P., 2019. Child labor. In Global Occupational Safety and Health Management
Handbook (pp. 253-274). CRC Press.
Junaid, M., Malik, R.N. and Pei, D.S., 2017. Health hazards of child labor in the leather products
and surgical instrument manufacturing industries of Sialkot, Pakistan. Environmental
Pollution. 226. pp.198-211.
Meyer, S.R., and et. al., 2020. Child labor, sex and mental health outcomes amongst adolescent
refugees. Journal of adolescence,=. 81. pp.52-60.