The 2023 Annual Household Income and Expenditure Survey has indicated that over 1.1 million children from the ages of 5 to 17 years were involved in different forms of work in the fourth quarter of 2023.
The figure represents one in every 10 (10.3%) children in this age range.
Among these children, about 893,000 are involved in employment work, which is mostly paid work.
The above was released by the Ghana Statistical Service to mark the World Day Against Child Labour.
The World Day Against Labour was first launched in 2002 to raise awareness and activism to prevent child labor and it is observed by the United Nations (UN) on the 12th of June of every year.
This year’s theme, “Let’s Act on Our Commitments: End Child Labour,” calls for intensified efforts to fulfill pledges to eliminate child labour and protect children’s rights.
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Speaking at a press conference, Government Statistician, Prof. Samuel Kobina Annim explained that more of the children who are involved in different forms of work are males (56%).
According to him, almost half a million (458,443) of these working children are not attending school, comprising 68,500 who have never attended school and 389,943 who attended school in the past.
He noted that urban areas account for over a quarter (309,199:28%) of working children, while rural areas have a significantly higher proportion, with almost three-quarters (795,175;72%).
From a regional perspective, Prof. Samuel Kobina Annim explained that the Ashanti Region, (13.6%) accounts for the highest percentage of children working, followed by Bono East (12.1 %), and then Northern (11.8%).
The Ahafo Region (0.8%), Greater Accra (1.6%) and Western North (1.8) have the lowest percentages of working children, he said.
The Government Statistician said a breakdown of the forms of work revealed that 35.4 percent of children worked as family help, followed by farmwork (31.2%), unpaid trainees (11.7%), and own use production (7.3%).
Also, he stated that 6.2 percent of children were engaged in non-farm work, 5.3 percent in wage work and 2.9 percent involved in domestic, non-productive agriculture, voluntary worker apprentice work.
Prof. Samuel Kobina Annim again noted that Elementary occupations pre-dominate the occupational landscape for working children, representing 60.4 percent, followed by craft and trade-related work (19.8%) and then skilled agricultural, forestry, and fish-related work (17.7%).
He said Service and sales workers (1.7%), Plant and machine operators, and assemblers (0.2%) and Manager (0.1%) account for the least working children.
Meanwhile, he said the services sector employs nine in 10 (91.7%) of the working children, while agriculture and industry engage 4.8 percent and 3.6 percent, respectively.
The Government Statistician again noted that eight in 10 (80.4%) of working children are involved in contributing to family work, both in agricultural and non-agricultural sectors.
He said the second most common employment status for children is unpaid apprenticeship, which constitutes 11.7 percent.
Additionally, Prof. Samuel Kobina Annim said 1.9 percent of working children are self-employed, 0.5 percent are paid employees and 4.9percent of working children fall under other employment categories.
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Ghana| Atinkaonline.com| Porcia Oforiwaa Ofori
