A prática do trabalho infantil entre os beneficiários do Programa Bolsa-Escola Belo Horizonte: um estudo sobre os determinantes sócio-demográficos

Abstract

According to the ILO, in 2004 there were 218 million children and adolescents between the ages of 5 and 17 at work throughout the world. In Brazil, 5.1 million were at work in 2006. It was noted that there was a tendency for this number to fall at the same time as income transferprograms were established. Objective: To study the attributes of families with and without child workers enrolled in the Family Benefit Program (Bolsa-Escola1) in Belo Horizonte and to compare these two groupsin order to try to identify the factors that are possibly related to child labour.Materials and Methods: A transversal study of 9252 families taking part in the program from 2003 to 2006. The dependent variable is the incidence of child labour and the independent variables include the attributes of the household, the mother and the family. Descriptive, univariate and multivariate analyses were carried out, followed by calculation ofthe power of the statistical test and production of a probability model.Results: There were 1,293 (13.9%) incidences of child labour out of the total number of families studied (n = 9,252). It was noted that there was a positive relationship between the incidence of child labour, the number of persons in the household. (5 or more) and the per capita family income. The presence of the spouse was found to be a protective factor. It wasfound that the lower the level of the mothers education, the greater the incidence of child labour. The multivariate analysis included 8948 families and made use of the following variables:- number of persons and presence of the spouse in the household; level of motherseducation and her labour market status. This analysis confirmed the univariate results. Conclusion: In spite of the consolidation of the program studied, there still incidences of child labour among those enrolled in the program. The probable factors leading to theincidence of child labour were the absence of one of the spouses, the low level of the mothers education, a working mother and there being five or more persons in the household. 1 Bolsa Escola: a benefit that requires parents to keep their children in school.According to the ILO, in 2004 there were 218 million children and adolescents between the ages of 5 and 17 at work throughout the world. In Brazil, 5.1 million were at work in 2006. It was noted that there was a tendency for this number to fall at the same time as income transfer programs were established. Objective: To study the attributes of families with and without child workers enrolled in the Family Benefit Program (Bolsa-Escola1) in Belo Horizonte and to compare these two groups in order to try to identify the factors that are possibly related to child labour. Materials and Methods: A transversal study of 9252 families taking part in the program from 2003 to 2006. The dependent variable is the incidence of child labour and the independent variables include the attributes of the household, the mother and the family. Descriptive, univariate and multivariate analyses were carried out, followed by calculation of the power of the statistical test and production of a probability model. Results: There were 1,293 (13.9%) incidences of child labour out of the total number of families studied (n = 9,252). It was noted that there was a positive relationship between the incidence of child labour, the number of persons in the household. (5 or more) and the per capita family income. The presence of the spouse was found to be a protective factor. It was found that the lower the level of the mothers education, the greater the incidence of child labour. The multivariate analysis included 8948 families and made use of the followingvariables:- number of persons and presence of the spouse in the household; level of mothers education and her labour market status. This analysis confirmed the univariate results. Conclusion: In spite of the consolidation of the program studied, there still incidences of child labour among those enrolled in the program. The probable factors leading to theincidence of child labour were the absence of one of the spouses, the low level of the mothers education, a working mother and there being five or more persons in the household. 1 Bolsa Escola: a benefit that requires parents to keep their children in school.