Employers’ perceptions of changing child labour practices in Bangladesh

Abstract

This study aimed to know how and what factors have contributed in changing the patterns and perspectives of the employment of children over the last 15 years. Based on an in-depth research on 120 children and 40 employers of child labour in a Dhaka slum and a rural community in the poor northern district of Nilphamari this paper articulates employers’ perspectives on child labour, with particular emphasis on understanding what factors have caused them to change their own practices over time. The paper addresses four main issues: a) why employers depend on child labour; b) how the types and forms of children’s employment are believed to have changed over the last 15 years; c) factors that employers believe have contributed to these changes; and d) how employers are adapting to the changing situation with respect to the employment of children. Firstly, we tried to show why employers depend on child labour. It has been found that certain tasks were deemed to be reserved for children since adults were unwilling to execute those tasks. These tasks effectively ‘institutionalize’ children’s work, usually within informal setting. The physical structure of the children was found to be vital. Since they can move in and out very easily around the busy work places it has made their existence well-liked. In many of the cases the adults withdrew themselves from many tasks performed by children on grounds of status, particularly if they were seen as dirty tasks. Also employers were found less willing to pay full-time adult employee wages for tasks, which are intermittent, unskilled or low priority. The report takes a close look at the perspectives on how child labour practices have changed in the last 15 years. It explored the employers’ view on how practices of child labour had changed, particularly with respect to the numbers of children working or the extent of child labour; the types of and opportunities for work; wages and compensation; and access to education. The employers believed that the job opportunity for the children had increased in great deal which has changed the child recruitment process. Different types of work are now available both in the village and urban areas. Previously, both in urban and rural areas, formal contracts and conditions rarely applied whereas contractual arrangements are now clearer, firmer, and more likely to involve cash payments.