Rise in child labour raises concern

According to a national survey, child labour is increasing in Bulgaria. About 6.5% of children aged between five and 17 years work in the private sector, 32.3% are unpaid workers in the household and family-owned businesses, and 41.8% do some domestic work. Other sources confirm this trend. The General Labour Inspectorate issued twice as many work permits for underage workers in 2006 as in 2003.

The increase in child labour in Bulgaria is documented in a number of studies and reports by the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB), the United Nations Children’s Fund UNICEF, and the country’s General Labour Inspectorate (GLI). It is also among the findings of a national survey on child labour, which was carried out in 2000 with the financial support of the International programme on the elimination of child labour (IPEC) of the ILO. According to the survey findings, 6.5% of all children aged between five and 17 years – that is, 83,000 children out of a total of 1,294,000 children – work in the private sector; 32.3% of children, corresponding to 418,000 children, work in the household or in family businesses; and 41.8% of children, or 611,000 children, do domestic work.

The survey shows that 94.1% of economically active children work without an employment contract and receive very low remuneration for their work. According to the ILO definition, economically active children are children who carry out paid or unpaid activities in the labour market. Other sources also confirm the increase in child labour in Bulgaria. In 2003, a UNICEF report on human trafficking in southeast Europe indicated that 69.2% of the Bulgarian victims of human trafficking are children. Moreover, the legal use of child labour has also increased: while the GLI issued 2,821 work permits for hiring minors in 2001, this number grew to 8,465 work permits in 2006.

Factors influencing use of child labour

In 2005, CITUB conducted special research on the work of children alongside its campaign against child labour. The research findings show that the main factors leading to the increased use of child labour are as follows:

• rising poverty in the economic transition period, in particular among families with children;

• increasing unemployment;

• low standard of living among a significant proportion of Bulgarian society, with an increased number of children dropping out of school education;

• cultural traditions and family attitudes regarding work for children as being part of their education;

• lack of a coherent national child and family policy, and insufficient control mechanisms to reduce child labour.

Sectoral distribution of child labour

The national survey found that child labour is mainly concentrated in sectors such as trade and services (56.2%), agriculture (16.9%), transport and communications (7%) and industry (3.3%). Other sectors of economic activity account for 16.7% of child labour. About 9.4% of households have family-owned businesses, of which more than half – representing 57.6% of these businesses – employ children. Children who work as unpaid workers in family businesses are found mainly in the trade, services and tourism sectors.

Consequences of child labour

The CITUB research report underlines that, while accepting the educational function of work, trade unions are strongly opposed to the increased exploitation of children through labour, thereby denying children their basic rights. The trade unions are very concerned about the consequences of increased child labour both for the individuals concerned and society as a whole.

Most of the children work in the undeclared economy where minimal labour standards are not observed. Therefore, children are exposed to various risks in the workplace, including the negative health impact of chemicals and other harmful substances. Data from the 2000 national survey on child labour reveals that 2,300 children, corresponding to 1.8% of the children, suffer from work-related health problems.

Another consequence of the extended use of child labour is the negative impact on the child’s education. A trend has been observed in the country of an increasing number of early school leavers. According to data of the National Statistical Institute (NSI), the rate of early school leavers amounts to 20%, compared with an average of 15.9% in the EU25. This will have long-term consequences both for their employability and future participation in the labour market, as well as for the competitiveness of the Bulgarian economy.

Commentary

Child labour is a social issue with a far-reaching impact on the individuals and society as a whole. The fact that child labour has increased in Bulgaria raises serious concerns. As the reality shows, the criminalisation of non-permitted child labour in the Bulgarian Penal Code does not constitute a sufficient barrier to stamp out child labour in the country. Thus, there is a need for coordinated and immediate action by the state institutions, the public, the trade unions and employers to limit the extent of child labour in the country and to eradicate its most oppressive forms.

Ivan Neykov, Balkan Institute for Labour and Social Policy (BILSP)