Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare Report on the National Child Labour Survey 2010 of Lao PDR August 2012 Lao Statistics Bureau (LSB) International Programme on Ministry of Planning and Investment the Elimination of Child Labour Luang Prabang Road (IPEC) Vientiane Capital ILO DWT for East and South-East Asia and Lao PDR the Pacific Tel.: +856-21-214740; +856-21-264322 United Nations Building, 10th Floor www.nsc.gov.la Rajdamnern Nok Avenue, P.O. Box 2-349 Bangkok 10200, Thailand Department of Labour Management Tel.: +66 2 288 2219; Fax: +66 2 288 3058 Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare www.ilo.org/asia International Pangkham Road www.ilo.org/ipec Programme on Vientiane Capital the Elimination Lao PDR of Child Labour Tel.: +856 21-213005 (IPEC) ISBN 978-92-2-126814-7 ILO - Governemtn of Lao PDR Report on the National Child Labour Survey 2010 of of - Governemtn Survey Child Labour ILO on the National Lao PDR Lao PDR Report 9 789221 268147 NCLS_Lao_PDR-Cover_FINAL.indd 1 28/11/2012 14:05:11 Report on the National Child Labour Survey 2010 of Lao PDR August 2012 International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) International Labour Organization Lao Statisticis Bureau Copyright © International Labour Organization and Lao Statistics Bureau (LSB) 2012 First published 2012 For rights of reproduction application should be made either to the ILO: ILO Publications (Rights and Permissions), International Labour Office, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland, or by email: [email protected] or to the Lao Statistics Bureau Central (LSB), Ministry of Planning and Investment, Luang Prabang Road, Vientiane Capital, Lao PDR. For rights of translation application should be made to the ILO, acting on behalf of both organizations, to the address mentioned above. Libraries, institutions and other users registered with reproduction rights organizations may make copies in accordance with the licences issued to them for this purpose. Visit www.ifrro.org to find the reproduction rights organization in your country. IPEC; LSB Report on the National Child Labour Survey 2010 of Lao PDR / International Labour Organization, International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), Lao Statistics Bureau (LSB). – Vientiane: ILO, 2012 - 1 v. ISBN: 978-92-2-126814-7 (Print); 978-92-2-126815-4 (web PDF) International Labour Organization; ILO International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour; Lao Statistics Bureau (LSB) child labour / child worker / employment / working conditions / survey / data collecting / methodology / definition / Lao PDR - 13.01.2 ILO Cataloguing in Publication Data NOTE The analysis presented here is based on data from the National Child Labour Survey 2010 of Lao PDR conducted by the Lao Statistics Bureau (LSB) with technical and financial assistance from the ILO's International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) trough its Statistical Information and Monitoring Programme on Child Labour (SIMPOC). Funding for this publication was provided by the United States Department of Labor (Project INT/08/93/USA). This publication does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the United States Department of Labor, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the United States Government. The designations employed in this publication and the presentation of data therein do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the ILO and LSB concerning the legal status of any country, area or territory or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers. ILO and LSB do not accept any responsibility in case of inaccuracy, error or omission of for any consequence related of the use of this data. Printed in Lao PDR Photocomposed by IPEC Geneva ii Table of contents Page Foreword ....................................................................................................................xiii Executive summary ......................................................................................................xv Key findings of the Lao PDR NCLS 2010 ...................................................................... xxv 1. Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1 1.1. An overview of Lao PDR ............................................................................. 1 1.2. Labour force and child labour in Lao PDR in recent years ......................... 2 1.3. Background of the National Child Labour Survey 2010 of Lao PDR........... 5 1.4. The Lao PDR National Child Labour Survey 2010....................................... 6 1.5. Objectives of the National Child Labour Survey 2010 ............................... 7 1.6. Survey procedures...................................................................................... 8 2. Concepts, definitions and design of the survey.................................................... 11 2.1. Sample design .......................................................................................... 11 2.2. Selection of area sample (village) ............................................................ 12 2.3. Selection of households in villages selected for the survey .................... 14 2.4. Measuring the survey weights ................................................................. 14 2.5. Concepts and definitions.......................................................................... 14 2.6. Sample size............................................................................................... 17 3. General characteristics of children....................................................................... 19 3.1. Overall characteristics of children in Lao PDR ......................................... 19 3.2. Child population (5 to 17 years): distribution by sex and area type........ 21 3.3. School attendance of children (5-17 years) ............................................. 21 3.4. Children of age 5-17 years currently not attending school: reasons....... 26 3.5. Children’s desire for additional work....................................................... 28 3.6. Children, working children, child labour and hazardous child labour ..... 28 3.7. Children, working children, child labour and hazardous child labour by province.................................................................................................... 32 4. Characteristics of children engaged in economic activities................................... 39 4.1. Number of children engaged in economic activity .................................. 39 4.2. Children engaged in economic activity by their status in employment .. 44 4.3. Children working as employees by different types of employers ........... 49 4.4. Working hours.......................................................................................... 50 4.5. Wage/salary of working children who work as employees ..................... 54 4.6. Working children by sector of economic activity..................................... 58 4.7. Working children by types of job undertaken in previous year............... 61 4.8. Reasons for undertaking economic activity by working children............ 62 4.9. Children seeking work.............................................................................. 63 4.10. Household chores performed by working children ................................. 64 4.11. Occupational health and safety ............................................................... 66 4.12. Marital status ........................................................................................... 72 4.13. Child domestic workers............................................................................ 73 iii 5. Child labour and children in hazardous work....................................................... 75 5.1. General characteristics of child labour and children in hazardous work. 76 5.2. Educational status .................................................................................... 81 5.3. Employment aspects ................................................................................ 90 5.4. Types of health and other hazards faced by child labour...................... 106 6. Other activities of children .................................................................................111 6.1. Economic activities and other activities................................................. 111 6.2. Activities of children not engaged in economic activity ........................ 114 6.3. Vocational training ................................................................................. 119 6.4. Trafficking of children ............................................................................ 119 7. Working children, child labour and hazardous child labour: a comparison by housing condition, characteristics of head of household and household wealth index.......................................................................................................125 7.1. Children by the characteristics of housing units where they live.......... 126 7.2. Amenities in the houses where children live ......................................... 127 7.3. Assets owned by the households where children live........................... 129 7.4. Land owned, indebtedness and migration of households where children live ............................................................................................ 131 7.5. Working children and characteristics of head