Determinants of Child Labor in District Malakand, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Abstract

The study's goal is to look at the primary causes of child labor in the Malakand district. According to this survey, the majority of working children are males who labor outside of the house to help their parents meet their basic requirements and are under the age of 14 and their moms are housewives, while the men are unemployed, physically healthy, and not drug addicts. The father's income is the primary source of revenue for the family of working children; however, their combined income is insufficient to meet their family's requirements. The majority of working children make up to 5,000 PKR per month, but their entire family earns up to 30,000 PKR, which is insufficient to cover their basic necessities. The regression findings showed that the number of working children in the household, as well as father education, have a positive and substantial influence on the number of working hours per day. The physical fitness of the children's dads, the children's family income, and the children's income all have a negative and considerable impact on the children's daily working hours. As a result, this study found that the size of working children's families, father education, physical fitness of the children's dads, children's family income, and children's income are the most important factors influencing child labor. This research proposed that the government focus on education, particularly in the technical sector, to improve income and unemployment benefits, as well as other incentives for disadvantaged families, in order to prevent child work.