Relation between Child labor and Social Development and Welfare

Social problems prohibit accomplishment of social development, or at least delay its process. Child labor is one of the social problems. Poverty has a substantial effect in creation and stability of child labor. In this study, we surveyed correlations between child labor and social development at two distinct times to find the direction of their relationship. This is a cross-lagged panel study. Among all of the world countries, 34 countries in different levels of development, that their child labor statistics and social development index were available at 2000 and 2006, was chosen. Indices of life expectancy at birth, rate of urban population with access to improved sanitation and rate of literate people over 15 years old, had a negative and significant relation with rate of child labor and rate of children under weight for age under 5 and rate of people with 1$ a day, had a positive and significant relation with rate of child labor, but there was not any relation between Gini index and rate of child labor. In the cross-lagged, relations between rate of child labor at 2000 and social development index at 2006 on one hand, and between social development index at 2000 and rate of child labor at 2006 on the other hand, were negative and significant. The difference between these two correlations (-0.78 and -0.87, respectively) was not significant. It could not be said surely that the rate of child labor at 2000 affects social development index at 2006, directly. Also it could not be claimed surely that social development index at 2000 and affects rate of child labor at 2006. But, these relations are indirect. In this study, Poverty, also, is affirmed as main factor of child labor. The more developed a country is, the less child labor a country has, but the direction of this relation is unknown yet.