Child Labor in Mexico: A Productive Sector Unpaid Worldcrunch
go to original May 4, 2013

Around 300,000 children work illegally in the fields of Mexico, providing produce for dinner tables across the globe. The government recently brought in new labour laws to help crack down on child labour. But authorities are finding it hard to prosecute offenders, who are mostly poor farmers. Al Jazeera's Rachel Levin reports from Sinaloa, Mexico. (AlJazeeraEnglish)

El Financiero reported this week that child labor abuses affect at least three million kids in Mexico: long workdays, minimal or no payment, informal jobs, and more blatant abuse are constant factors in their daily lives.

The last official numbers on underage workers were released in 2011 and indicated that about 870,000 boys and girls between 6 and 13 years-old - about 5% of Mexican kids in this age group - participated in some sort of labor activity.

By law, the minimum working age in Mexico is 14. Child labor in Mexico increases with age as school attendance decreases. Two out of every three children in the above age group in 2011 worked in unpaid jobs, both within a family setting and outside. Children who were 12 to 13 years-old worked for an average 19 hours per week.

The children who worked and didn't attend school spent on average 33 hours each week laboring. Kids between 14 and 17 years-old worked an average 40 hours per week, similar to the hours of most adults, often under illegal labor conditions.

Child labor isn't just going on in Mexico. The International Labor Organization has estimated that as many as 120 million underage workers between the ages of five and 14 are exploited.

Explore Mondo Map to learn more about child labor around the world.

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