Ahead of Olympics, China faces charges of child labor

The negative publicity comes at a sensitive moment for Beijing as it seeks to burnish its international image.

from the June 13, 2007 edition

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"We're not picking up yet on any large numbers of child labor; we're just not," says Thomas.

However, she says, "There are pockets of child labor, and my concern is that they may be growing."

There are "magnet factors" that could lead to a growing reliance on child labor, Thomas says, and China, with its previous track record in avoiding child labor, should address them. The three magnets, she says, are pockets of labor shortages, increasing numbers of privately owned business, which are more prone to unscrupulous hiring, and the huge mobility of the nation's workforce.

Migrant work contributes to problem

China has as many as 200 million migrant workers who have left hometowns and provinces to fill its factories. At least 20 million of their children have been left behind with relatives and the kids are often forced to work when they reach their teenage years. Those who travel with their parents face prohibitively high school fees that can make work seem a more plausible option.

China needs to play to its strengths, says Thomas and others. For one, its standards are higher than the ILO's, which considers anything under age 13 child labor. The Chinese government has set its minimum working age as 16, with limited working hours, or 18, for dangerous jobs with longer hours.

Anita Chan, a China labor scholar at Australian National University, says quantifying the child-labor problem is difficult, particularly when the country is having a difficult time enforcing labor standards for adults. In any case, she says, the country should stay firm to its strict anti-child labor laws and enforce them. Certainly, she says, government officials must realize that in addition to giving a country political problems, child labor can have basic economic consequences.

"If you hire a lot of children, the grown-ups won't have jobs," says Ms. Chan.

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