KP Launches First-Ever Child Labour Survey 2022-23

PESHAWAR: KP Labour department has launched first-ever Child Labour Survey 2022-23 carried out across the province including the newly merged districts.

The survey was launched during a ceremony held here at a local hotel the other day. Besides, various government departments, the representatives of UN Agencies, donors, academia, and civil society organizations attended.

This survey collected data from 49,734 households including 5,976 urban and 43,758 rural, achieving a response rate of 92.5 percent despite harsh weather and security challenges especially in the newly merged districts. According to the survey report, the child population aged 5 – 17 years is approximately 8.28m in the province, adding that 11.1 percent of them are working children; of which 80 percent are in child labour while 73.8 percent of them are working in hazardous conditions. Referring to children population from 14-17 years, it said that 21.6 percent are working children and 15.5 percent are in child labour or hazardous work respectively.

The report revealed that the major four industries for child labour included agriculture, forestry and fishing at 51.6 percent; water collection at 19.1 percent; wholesale and retail trade at 9.7 percent and manufacturing at 7.7 percent.

The causes of children being in labour are multi-dimensional, it said adding that these include, head of household having no or primary education only 44.7 percent, household being in the poorest wealth condition 31.8 percent, household being the beneficiary of BISP’s assistance 26.3 percent, migration of the head of household 14.6percent, and household losing at least one parent 6.6 percent.

The KP-CLS report also provided a detailed analysis of the effects of child labour on children which include physical and psychological effects, limiting their equitable opportunities to be fully educated, abuse at work places, economic exploitation and health consequences, etc.

It said child labour has been historically a huge issue with negative consequences on the development and wellbeing of children and a challenge for government and other actors to address. Having greater realization of this, Labour department with the support from UNICEF and Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) took a bold step towards filing the evidence gap and conducted an in-depth survey across all districts of the province, including New Merged Districts (NMDs). KP Child Labour Survey 2022-23 is the second provincial survey in Pakistan, after Punjab.