Evolution of child labor rate in Brazilian states: policy limits and contradictions

Abstract

Abstract This study descriptively explores the evolution of child labor rates in Brazilian states from 2000 to 2014 and indicates specific limits and contradictions of governmental measures adopted for its reduction. On one hand, we examine the coverage of the Bolsa Família conditional cash transfer (PBF), which is a transversal program to reduce poverty. On the other hand, we examine the design of Labor Inspections with a focus on child labor. For this, we used data from the National Household Sample Survey, the Ministry of Social Development and the Ministry of Labor and Employment. Our analysis showed that the expressive reduction of the child labor rate in Brazil was driven, in particular, by the rural areas of the North and Northeast regions. However, the agricultural sector is still the major employer of child labor. We also found that the distribution of governmental countermeasures are contradictory as to the rate of child labor in the states. Inspection activities are shorthanded in fighting child labor in domestic work and family agriculture as a result of the constitutional apparatus of the inviolability of homes. The PBF conditional cash transfer is also limited in tackling child labor given that poverty level determines eligibility.