The impact of minimum age of employment regulation on child labor and schooling *

Edmonds, Eric V; Shrestha, Maheshwor

doi:10.1186/2193-9004-1-14

Table 1 Minimum age of employment & compulsory schooling laws by country

From: The impact of minimum age of employment regulation on child labor and schooling^*

				Min Age for Employment in:		Age at which schooling is no longer compulsory
	Country	Country Code	MICS Round	Non-Haz Work	Light Work
Africa
	Angola	AGO	2	14	NA	14*
	Burundi	BDI	2 & 3	16	12	13*
	Cameroon	CMR	2 & 3	14	NA	15
	Central African Republic	CAF	2 & 3	14	12	16
	Chad	TCD	2	14	12	12*
	Comoros	COM	2	15	NA	14
	Cote d'Ivoire	CIV	2 & 3	14	NA	NA
	Democratic Republic of Congo	ZAR	2	16	14	14*
	Djibouti	DJI	3	16	NA	15*
	Equatorial Guinea	GNQ	2	14	12	14
	Gambia	GMB2	2	18	NA	13
	Gambia	GMB3	3	18	16	13
	Ghana	GHA	3	15	13	15*
	Guinea Bissau	GIN	2 & 3	14	NA	13
	Kenya	KEN	2	16	13	14*
	Lesotho	LSO	2	15	13	NA
	Madagascar	MDG	2	15	NA	15
	Malawi	MWI	3	14	NA	NA
	Mauritania	MRT	3	14	12	15*
	Niger	NER	2	14	NA	13*
	Nigeria	NGA	3	15	NA	15*
	Rwanda	RWA	2	18	NA	13*
	Sao Tome and Principe	STP	2	14	NA	13*
	Senegal	SEN	2	16	NA	17
	Sierra Leone	SLE	2 & 3	15	12	12*
	Somalia	SOM	3	NA	NA	14
	Sudan (North)	SDN	2	18	NA	14*
	Sudan (South)	SSD	2	18	NA	14*
	Swaziland	SWZ	2	15	NA	NA
	Togo	TGO	2	14	NA	16
Europe and Central Asia
	Albania	ALB	2 & 3	16	14	14*
	Azerbaijan	AZE	2	14	NA	17
	Belarus	BLR	3	14	NA	15*
	Bosnia and Herzegovina	BIH	2 & 3	15	NA	15
	Georgia	GEO	3	14	NA	15*
	Kazakhstan	KAZ	3	15	14	18*
	Kyrgyzstan	KGZ	3	14	14	16*
	Macedonia	MKD	3	15	NA	15*
	Moldova	MDA	2	16	14	16*
	Montenegro	MNE	3	15	NA	15*
	Serbia	SER	3	15	NA	15*
	Tajikistan	SJK	2 & 3	16	7	16
	Ukraine	UKR	3	15	14	18*
	Uzbekistan	UZB2	2	16	14	18*
	Uzbekistan	UZB3	3	16	14	19*
East Asia and the Pacific
	Laos	LAO	2 & 3	15	NA	11*
	Mongolia	MNG2	2	14	NA	16*
	Mongolia	MNG3	3	14	NA	17*
	Philippines	PHL	2	15	NA	12*
	Thailand	THA	3	15	NA	15*
	Vietnam	VNM	2 & 3	15	NA	15
Middle East and North Africa
	Iraq	IRQ	2 & 3	15	NA	12*
	Syria	SYR	3	15	NA	15*
	Yemen	YEM	3	15	NA	15
South Asia
	Bangladesh	BGD	3	12	NA	11
Latin America & the Carribean
	Bolivia	BOL	2	14	NA	14*
	Dominican Republic	DOM	2	14	NA	14*
	Guyana	GUY	2 & 3	15	NA	15
	Jamaica	JAM	2 & 3	12	NA	12
	Suriname	SUR	2 & 3	14	12	12
	Trinidad and Tobago	TTO2	2	14	12	12
	Trinidad and Tobago	TTO3	3	16	14	12
	Venezuela	VEN	2	14	NA	17

NA = No applicable law. The non-hazardous column is the minimum age of employment in the country, defined as the youngest age at which it is legal to pay a child to work full time outside the home (during the day, limited hours). The light work age is the youngest age at which a child may work for limited hours, during the day in traditional or family activities. Age at which child has completed compulsory schooling is the age at which the child is no longer required to go to school. When compulsory schooling is stipulated by grade, we impute the age based on the scheduled progression through grades. *=restriction is based on grade completion (ages are imputed based on scheduled school progression). See Appendix 1 for country level detail. In general, information on minimum age of employment comes from USDOL Trade and Development Act reports. Age at the end of compulsory schooling information is from the Right to Education project. Note: All ages are when restrictions are no longer in place. Thus, if schooling is compulsory through age 12, age 13 is when the child has completed compulsory schooling. That is, if schooling is compulsory through age 12, the column will read age 13, the age at which schooling is no longer compulsory.

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