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Release Date :
Reference Number :
2002-53

SUMMARY

Data Items October 1, 2000 to September 30, 2001
(In Thousands)
July 1, 1994 to June 30, 1995
(In Thousands)
Number of households with children 5-17 years old 10,440 9,553
Number of households with working children 5-17 yrs. old 2,741 2,638
Proportion of households with working children 5-17 yrs. old 26.3% 27.6%
Number of children 5-17 yrs. old 24,851 22,382
Number of working children 5-17 years old 4,018 3,577
Proportion of working children 5-17 years old 16.2% 16.0%

Total number of households with children 5-17 years old increased by 9.3 percent.

  • More than 10 million households were reported to have children 5-17 years old during the period October 1, 2000 to September 30, 2001, an increase of 9.3 percent from the 9.6 million households reported during the period July 1, 1994 to June 30, 1995.

  • More than twenty-six percent (2.7 million) of these households had children 5-17 years old working either in their own household operated business or in other households or enterprises. This proportion showed a decline of 1.3 percentage points from the proportion of households with working children 5-17 years old (27.6% or 2.6 million) recorded in July 1995

  • The households with working children 5-17 years old had more than one member. Approximately 78 percent of these households had 4 to 8 members.

Sixteen percent of the total children 5-17 years old were economically active .

  • The total number of children 5-17 years old during the period October 1, 2000 to September 30, 2001 was recorded at 24.8 million, which was 2.5 million or 11.0 percent higher than what was recorded during the period July 1, 1994 to June 30, 1995.

  • Four million (16.2%) of these children 5-17 years old were economically active. This percentage was slightly higher than the proportion (16 percent or 3.6 million) of economically active children that was reported in the 1995.

  • The highest percentage of working children during the reference period came from Southern Tagalog (11.5 % or 461 thousand), followed by Central Visayas (9.7% or 388 thousand) and Eastern Visayas (8.7% or 349 thousand). All these regions reported notable increases in the percentage of working children 5-17 years since the last survey in 1995. Other regions with increased percentage of children were Bicol (from 6.7% in 1995 to 8.6% in 2001) and Southern Mindanao (from 8.4% in 1995 to 8.5% in 2001).

  • The Cordillera Administrative Region registered the least percentage (1.6% or 65 thousand) of working children 5-17 years old during the reference period.

Figure 1. Percentage of Working Children, by Region: October 2001
 

 

A Filipino working child was mostly male, an elementary grader whose median age was between 10 to 17 years old and usually rural-based

  • The working children were composed of children aged 10-14 years old (1.9 million or 48%) and 15-17 years old (1.8 million or 46%). The median age of the working children was 10 years old.

  • There were more male working children 5-17 years old (2.5 million or 63.4%) than female working children (1.5 million or 36.6%).

  • Seven out of every ten working children 5-17 years old resided in the rural areas.

  • Forty percent of the working children 5-17 years old were elementary undergraduate and another 32 percent had reached high school.

  • About 3 percent of these children never attended any school. On the other hand, 259 thousand working children had finished high school and only 0.8 percent went to college.

Majority of the working children were laborers and unskilled workers, engaged in agriculture, on seasonal basis, and unpaid

  • Majority of the working children 5-17 years old worked as laborers and unskilled workers (2.6 million or 65%). Others worked as service workers and shop and market sales workers (544 thousand or 13.5%) and as farmers, forestry workers and fishermen (454 thousand or 11.3%).

  • More than fifty percent of the working children 5-17 years old (2.1 million or 53%) were engaged in agriculture, hunting and forestry. Notable percentage of other working children could also be found in wholesale and retail, repair of motor vehicles and personal and household goods (747 thousand or 18.6%), in private households with employed persons (230 thousand or 5.7%), fishing (207 thousand or 5.2%) and manufacturing (186 thousand or 4.6 %).

  • Thirty seven percent of the working children 5-17 years old did their job on a seasonal basis or only during school vacation. On the other hand, one in every four working children was employed as permanent workers.

  • Most of the working children 5-17 years old were unpaid workers in their own household-operated farm or business (2.4 million or 59%). However, one-fifth of the total working children were found to be working in private establishments (845 thousand or 21%). About 373 thousand (9%) worked in private households. Some working children tried to be self-employed without any paid employee (176 thousand or 4%).

  • One out of two (49.5 %) working children 5-17 years were doing their work in the farm while more than one-fourth (27.6%) were home-based workers, that is, they worked either in their own house or in their employer's house or in other person's house/place.

  • Three out of every five working children 5-17 years old did not received any payment. If others got paid, it was on a daily basis (578 thousand or 14.4 %) or monthly basis (254 thousand or 6.3%) or per task or "pakyaw" basis (152 thousand or 3.8%) or other means (131 thousand or 3.3%).

  • The normal working hours per day of around 2 million (51.2%) working children 5-17 years old was between 1 to 4 hours. Others (1.5 million or 37.3%) worked 5 to 8 hours per day. Around 9 percent or 348 thousand worked more than 8 hours per day.

  • Half of the total working children 5-17 years old worked on an average of 2 days per week. The urban-based children worked longer, on the average of 3 days per week, than their rural-based counterpart, on an average of 1 day per week.

One in every four children worked in evening or during night time 

  • Of the 4.0 million working children 5-17 years old, 25.1 percent worked in the evening or during night time. The proportion of working children working during night time in the urban areas (39%) was greater than that in the rural areas (19%).

  • Of those working in the evening or night time, 56.5 percent belonged to age group 15-17 years old, while more males than their female counterpart..

More or less 60% of the working children 5-17 years old were exposed to hazardous environment

  • About 2.4 million or 59.4 percent of the 4.0 million working children were exposed to hazardous environment. Of those exposed, seven out of ten were male working children.

  • The proportion of rural working children 5-17 years old exposed to physical/chemical/biological hazards (62%) was higher than their urban counterparts (52%).

  • Among the hazardous environment, physical environment hazards were the most common among the working children. Around 1.1 million (44.4%) working children were exposed to physical hazards only, 382 thousand (16%) were in danger of physical and chemical hazards and another 352 thousand (14.7%) were in the physical and biologically hazardous working places.

  • Around 237 thousand (9.9%) working children 5-17 years old were exposed to the three forms of hazardous environment.

Figure 2. Venn Diagram of Number of Working Children 5-17 Years Old
In Hazardous Environment: October 2001

 

Source: SOC 2001, NSO

More than 2 million children 5-17 years old worked in hazardous physical environment

  • Out of the 2.4 million working exposed to hazardous environment, about 2.0 million or (85.1%) were exposed to physical hazards such as temperature or humidity (1.4 million), slip/trip fall hazards (345 thousand), noise (316 thousand), radiation/ultraviolet/microwave (178 thousand), pressure (110 thousand), etc.

  • More than 1.4 million or (70.3%) of these working children exposed to physical hazards were males.

  • Children 5-17 years old working in agriculture, hunting and forestry (1.3 million or 65%) were greatly exposed to physical hazards specifically the temperature or humidity of their working place.

About 833 thousand working children 5-17 years old were assigned in chemical hazardous environment

  • One out of every 5 working children were exposed to chemical elements. More than 74 percent of them were males.

  • Dust which includes silica dust and saw dust, among others, were the most common chemical hazards affecting 542 thousand working children, followed by mist /fumes (261 thousand).

  • Working children exposed to chemical hazards were mostly found in the agriculture, hunting and forestry (442 thousand) and wholesale and retail trade (142 thousands) sectors.

Almost 1 in every five working children 5-17 years old was in danger of biological infections

  • Of the 2.4 million working children exposed to hazardous environment, about 0.8 million were in danger of biological infections such as fungal (429 thousand), bacterial (419 thousand), parasitic (186 thousand) and viral (158 thousand). About seven in every 10 working children exposed to biological hazards were males.

  • Likewise, those children working in agriculture, hunting and forestry and wholesale and retail trade sectors were mostly affected by this type of hazard.

Almost 221 thousand working children did heavy physical work

  • Of the 4.0 million working children, about 221 thousand or (5%) were reported to have done heavy physical work always. Another 864 thousand (21%) did sometimes heavy physical work and another 606 thousand seldom or rarely did heavy physical work.

More than 2.4 million working children used tools/equipment in their work

  • Of the 4.0 million working children, more than 2.4 million or (60.8%) used any tools/equipment in their work. Seven out of ten working children who used tools/equipment were males.

  • Bolo/knife was the most common tools used by 1.6 million working children both in urban and rural areas.

Only one-third of working children 5-17 years old using tools were provided with safety device/equipment in their work

  • About 863 thousand working children or 35.3 percent of the total children using tools/equipment in their work were provided with safety/protective device/ equipment. Seven in every ten working children who reported to have used protective safety/protective device/equipment were males.

  • Percentage-wise, there were more rural working children (24%) who used protective/safety gadget/equipment in their work than their urban counterpart (16%).

  • In the urban areas, safety helmet/hair caps (80 thousand) and gloves (63 thousands) were the most common safety/protective usually used while in the rural areas, safety helmet/hair caps (322 thousands) and protective clothing (213 thousands) were given to the working children.

A greater number of working children still found their work not stressful and not boredom

  • When asked if they found their work stressful (mentally and emotionally), a number of working children (46.3% of the total working children) answered "never". About three of ten (31.2 %) answered "sometimes" while about 15.0 percent answered "seldom or rarely". Meanwhile, those who perceived they always find their work stressful were only five percent.

  • Those who reported that they never found their work boring were about 45 percent contrary to 2.5 percent of the total working children who were always bored when they were at work. Those who were sometimes bored were about 35.0 percent while those who were once in a while (seldom) bored were about 15 percent.

  • Compared with those working in the rural areas, children in the urban areas found their work less stressful and less boring.

About one-fifth of the children considered work to be risky or dangerous

  • Of the 4.0 million working children about one fifth (20.6 %) considered some aspects of their work risky or dangerous.

  • About 28 percent of them attributed risks in contracting disease. There were those who expressed they might fall (16.2%) and suffer physical mutilation while working (15%).

The number of children who experienced any injuries while at work was estimated at 23.4 percent

  • The working children 5-17 years old who experienced injuries while working during the past twelve months prior to the enumeration day numbered 942 thousand or about 23.4 percent of the total working children. Of this total about 60 percent suffered cuts, 46 percent got wounds and/or punctures and 22 percent had contusions, bruises, hematoma and abrasion. More than 72 percent of these children were males, a number of whom were either suffering from cuts (386 thousand) or wounds and punctures (325 thousand).

  • More than seven out of every ten working children in the agriculture, hunting and forestry sector (687 thousand) suffered work-related injuries.

Approximately 19.0 percent of the working children suffered from work-related illnesses

  • The estimated number of working children who suffered work-related illnesses reached about 754 thousand or 18.8 percent. The largest group came from agriculture, hunting and forestry (71.6 %).

  • Of the reported illnesses the most common were body aches and pains (545 thousand working children or 72.3%) and skin diseases (282 thousand or 37.5%).

Seven in every ten working children attended school

  • Of the 4.0 million children 5-17 years old who worked during the reference period, 65.9 percent or 2.6 million attended school during the school year 2000-2001. More males attended school than females (59.6% against 40.4%). However, the proportion of female working children (72.7 percent) who attended school to the total working female children was higher than that of the male (61.9 percent).

  • About 78 percent of the working children reported that their work had no effect on their schooling. On the other hand, those who were affected in their schooling got low grades (8.9%), resorted to absenteeism (6.7%), and incurred tardiness (5.7%).

  • More or less 1.2 million working children or 44.8% of those who attended school encountered problems or difficulties. The most common problems encountered by working children in schooling were difficulty in catching up with the lesson (23.4 percent), high cost of school supplies/books/transportation (21.5%), far distance of the school from residence (18.0%), unsupportive teachers (3.6%) and no time to study (2.9%).

  • Two in every five working children 5-17 years old stopped/dropped out of school. The ratio of male working children to female working children in terms of dropouts was 2:1.

The ratio of male working
children to female working children
in terms of dropouts was 2:1.

  • The topmost reason given for dropping out of school was the loss of interest of the child in going to school (31.4% or 461 thousand). Others complained that they could not afford to go to school (28.3%) because of high cost of schooling. Loss of interest in school was the primary reason among the working boys (37.4%) while high cost of schooling was for the working girls (41.4%).

  • Among children aged 5 to 14 years, 177 thousand or 32.5 percent had stopped/dropped out of school because of loss of interest in schooling while those belonging to 15-17 years old (294 thousand or 31.8%) had problem on high cost of schooling.

About 9 out of 10 children had day off/free time

  • Of the total working children 5-17 years old, 92.3 percent enjoyed day off or free time from work. Only 5% had no free time at all.

  • The proportion of those having no free time at all among females was higher by 2 percentage points compared to males.

  • Among the working children with day off/free time, 46 percent or 1.7 million reported to have more than 10 hours of free time. Other working children enjoyed 5 to 8 hours free time (929 thousand or 25 percent) or 1 to 4 hours of doing leisure activities (619 thousand or 17 percent) or spending 9 to 10 hours freely in activities not related to their work (456 thousand or 12 percent).

  • Working children who had day off/free time, spent it in several ways: playing with friends (78 percent), sleeping/resting (74 percent), studying/reading (44 percent) and other means such as going to movies/amusement centers, window shopping, etc.

  • Among the male working children with free time, playing with friends was their foremost leisure activity. On the other hand, the female working children with free time chose to sleep and rest.

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