Report examines child labour situation

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Child labour has been a high-profile issue in Portugal for some years. A report from the Ministry of Labour and Solidarity, published in January 1999, examines work by children aged six to 15 and shows how non-remunerated family work fits into the child labour picture. Previous studies have already shown this to be a complex issue and have called attention to the need to look at both paid and unpaid work among minors, and to protect the minors involved by providing training, job skills and social protection.

The Ministry of Labour and Solidarity (Ministério do Trabalho e Solidariedade, MTS) released a report on child labour in mainland Portugal at the end of January 1999, setting out the results of a nationwide survey of 26,000 families with children between the ages of six and 15 ("Inquírito à caracterização social dos agregados familiares com menores em idade escolar" ["Survey on the social make-up of households with school-aged minor children"], DETEFP, MTS, 1998). The data was collected through personal interviews, with one adult and all the children in each family being questioned. The study was carried out with the technical assistance of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), which backed the project.

The survey findings

The main findings of the survey include the following.

• In the week that the survey was carried out (the first week of October 1998), an estimated 0.8% (8,988) of all minors in Portugal (between the ages of six and 15) were working outside the home. Another 3.1% (34,225) of minors were working in family-run companies or on family farms. These figures were obtained from interviews with the children. The responses given by adult family members showed a total of only 18,808 working minors, rather than the 43,213 reported in interviews with the minors themselves. Of those minors who work, 79.5% work without pay as family members, and 20.5% are wage earners.

• The percentage of minors who work is 3.9% of the total but, according to the survey, this rises to 8.4% during holidays.

• Of those minors who work (either for wages or as an unpaid family member in family economic activities), 78.1% attend school. Since school attendance among children aged six to 15 overall stands at 98.1%, this indicates a negative relationship between school attendance and working.

• The majority of working minors, 56.7%, work in the agricultural sector, or 50.4% if the work is averaged out over the year. There are significant numbers of young people working in the industrial sector, where 12.1% of the abovementioned 43,212 are employed. There are also 11.1% working in the restaurant and hotels sector, 10.4% in commerce, and 6.4% in construction.

• Given differences in types of agricultural activity in different regions of the country, it is not surprising that the distribution of young workers also follows regional lines with 61.3% of all working children located in the north, where small family farms predominate, and 27.2% in the central region. Nevertheless, it is in this latter region that there is a greater percentage of minors working (6.1% versus 5.6% in the north). A closer look, taking into account seasonal differences, shows that during holiday periods the percentage rises overall and by region. At these times, the southern region shows the greatest increase.

• More than half of all working minors (52.6%) are over 14 years of age and 35.3% are over 15.

• Boys make up 65.8% of working minors.

• The working day is under four hours for 55.5% of working minors, while 26.6% work seven days a week. The day most frequently worked is Saturday. Some 6.9% report that they work throughout the year, while the others work only occasionally.

• The reasons most frequently given by minors for working are that: their family needs the extra income - 28.3%; there is no one else to do the work - 12.3%; and their contribution is needed to allow other family members to work - 5.2%.

The battle against child labour in Portugal

Child labour in Portugal has been the target of investigation, social and political debate, special commissions and research projects for some years (PT9807185F).

A recent university research project (Graça Alves Pinto, Caderno das Ciências Sociais, No. 18 - Feb. 1998) argues that the use of child labour in agricultural and domestic work is part of a strategy of socio-economic continuity in rural families in the north of Portugal. The work plays an important role in socialising minors into a rural economics mentality. Since this type of activity is not highly visible, it has not necessarily been viewed as work. The author of the study also calls attention to the fact that this kind of work can be very arduous. She believes, however, that it will continue because of its strong cultural roots.

Another report on child labour that fueled the debate in 1998 was prepared by the social partners on the Standing Committee for Social Concertation (Comissão Permanente de Concertação Social). The report outlines various types of reasons for the phenomenon, such as:

• cultural- traditionally few occupational choices, poor job skills and lack of technical-scientific knowledge, few regional employment alternatives, social pressure to push young people into an occupation as rapidly as possible;

• educational- slow progress in compulsory education, predominance of educational programmes that focus on theory and the disappearance of other means of vocational training that provide more direct preparation for employment, deficiencies in the education system with a high rate of failures;

• economic- cheap labour, aptitude for simple, non-specialised tasks; and

• social- poverty.

The report maintains that these arguments have gained such force that they are taken as justifiable reasons for child labour. They have led many of the people involved (parents, regional authorities, teachers etc) to accept child labour as a valid solution, while at the national level society has been fighting to change the situation and a set of measures has been taken, including legislation.

Commentary

The Ministry's detailed report shows that the problem of paid child labour in Portugal is perhaps not as great as it has sometimes been made out to be. It does show that young people work over short periods of time, with reduced hours, and in family-run companies or farms. This does not necessarily invalidate concerns about child labour in Portugal. There is a close relationship between paid work and unpaid and family work. The situation warrants closer attention to the relationship between the care of children and young people, training and education, social security and the nature and acquisition of job skills. (Maria Luisa Cristovam, UAL)