child labour ib supply and chains

Child labour in supply
and chains
Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Discussion on argument Child labour is better than living in poverty...................................1
Discussion effect of child labour on economic conditions of families and long term effect of
child labour on families..........................................................................................................2
Social, economic, mental and physical effects of child labour..............................................3
RECOMMENDATION...................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFRENCES...................................................................................................................................6
Books and Journals.................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Child labour is defined as the work which strips childhood away from children all over
the globe (Ali, 2019). Child labour is significant threat to physical and mental development
children. This report includes discussion about various factors related to this exploitative practice
in context of global supply chain and discusses effect of child laboured on their families. Social,
economic, mental and physical impact of child labour is also discussed in this report. This report
looks at various arguments in favour and against of child labour. The present report is focused on
arguments in against of child labour in global supply chains an looks at arguments discussing
positive and negative effects of child labour to determine strength to arguments against of child
labour.
MAIN BODY
Discussion on argument Child labour is better than living in poverty
Child labour is an exploitative practice which hinders continuous educational, nutritional,
mental growth of children (Boris and Yetunde, 2019). Children engaged in various forms of
child labour are forced into this exploitative practice by families suffering from extreme poverty.
Child labour helps families move out of extreme poverty is a widely largely accepted argument.
This argument supports child labour on the basis that it is essential for economic development of
families and is appropriate if children are provided safe working conditions (Swepston, 2017).
This argument is not effective as child labour is one of the factors which keeps families engaged
in child labour poor (Chen and Kitsis, 2017). Child labourers are easy to exploit and are hired as
low wage labourers in dangerous working environment in global supply chain. The reason
behind easy exploitation is because of child labourer is that such children come from poverty
stricken families and are sent to work by their parents to seek minimum wage employment or
sold for little money. In addition to this, inadequate legislation related to minimum wage of
adolescent workers enable firms to hire labourers at exploitative wages (Dolan and Frost, 2017).
This hinders their educational growth and is harmful to their physical growth. These children
grow up to be part of low paying jobs which reduces their ability to provide education to their
children (Chatterjee and Ray, 2019). Thus, such families face generational poverty by engaging
their children in child labour and stopping them from reaching their highest potential by stripping
away their education.
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Child labour also contributes in perpetuating poverty on a global scale. As child labourers
are hired in global supply chain at extremely low wages, adults which cannot be exploited easily
face unemployment (Cramer, 2017). This reduces average income gained by adult labourers and
impacts economic conditions of adult labourers all over the world. In this way child labour not
only sustains poverty in families engaged in child labour but also increases poverty and
unemployment internationally (Sahoo, 2021).
The contradictory argument for this claim is that child labour increases household income
in poverty stricken families. Thus helps the family survive for a longer time and manage
financial needs effectively as all members of the household are of productive use. This includes
children seeking job from outside sources or children working domestically to assist their
caretakers. (Bellace, 2018).
After considering both of these arguments on impact of child labour on the economy it is
analysed that child labour does promote short term economic growth of low income families.
However this statement does not rectify the negative impact of child labour on global economy
and it’s consequences on employment and labour market. The impact of child labour on
employment rates has far more impactful consequences on global economy which also
negatively affects the families engaged in child labour. Therefore opposing argument to negative
economic impact child labour is baseless upon analysis.
Discussion effect of child labour on economic conditions of families and long term effect of
child labour on families
Children engaged in child labour have to work in extremely dangerous and unhygienic
conditions and receive low remuneration for their daily jobs. Child labourers usually gain non-
monetary compensation for their work such as access to shelter or daily food instead of any
monetary compensation. This is most common in child domestic work (Child labour and
domestic work, 2021) . In addition to this child labourers face dangers of domestic abuse, physical
or sexual exploitation while working away from their families. The economic conditions of
families engaged in child labour is not improved from long term point of view. This is because
child labourers work in exploitative conditions after they reach their adulthood and these
exploitative practices are transferred to their children. This creates a situation where poor
economic conditions are transferred from one generation to the next and children with potential
to develop economically, socially and physically lose their potential to child (Dimitrova, 2018).
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