Socio-Economic Factors Affecting Child Labor and Schooling in Rural Tigray:The Case of Hintalo-Wejerat Woreda

Abstract

This paper investigates the main socio-economic factors affecting child labor and schooling for children aged 7-14 using data collected from rural household areas of rural Tigray, particularly Hintalo-Wejerat woreda. The study adopted multinomial logit model to estimate child work-schooling outcomes. The results from the empirical analysis suggest that socio-economic factors are important determinants of child labor and schooling in rural Tigray. The main findings from the study are the existence of positive and significant association between child work and number of infants and biological relationship to the household head while age and education level of the household head, and household size among others, having significant but negative effect on child work specialization. The major determinants of school attendance include education level of the household head and average distance to the nearest school. The finding that some of the variables (number of adults & number of infants) affect work-school outcomes differently for boys and girls shows the presence of gender bias. From policy perspective, provision of productive and labor saving assets and investment in educational infrastructure should deserve essential place in the move to curb child labor and promote school attendance.