THE NUMBER of children working in the country fell by 26% to 1.09 million in 2023, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Wednesday.
PSA data showed the number of working children, aged between five and 17 years old, dropped by over 383,000 in 2023 from about 1.48 million in 2022.
The share of children doing work fell to 3.5% of the child population in 2023, lower than 4.7% in the previous year.
The term “working children” covers all children engaged in any form of economic activity regardless of their age or the nature of the work, PSA said.
Out of the 1.09 million working children, boys made up 59.1% of the total, while girls accounted for 40.9%.
The service sector employed 50% of the working children, slightly higher than 49.5% in 2022.
The agriculture sector’s share of child workers went up to 43.7% in 2023 from 43.2% in 2022.
Industry had the smallest share of working children at 6.3% in 2023, slipping from 7.3% in 2022.
In 2023, 73.7% of working children logged 20 hours or less of work each week, PSA said. This was lower than 75.6% a year earlier.
Meanwhile, the number of working children involved in “child labor” was estimated at about 678,000 in 2023, dropping from about 828,000 a year earlier.
Child labor is defined by the PSA as working children who are engaged in hazardous work or whose work exceeds 40 hours.
The statistics agency estimated that 62% of the total number of working children in 2023 were engaged in child labor. The ratio was 56% in 2022 and 68.4% in 2021.
Of the estimated 678,000 working children engaged in child labor in 2023, 62.1% or 422,000 were boys, while 37.9% or 257,000 were girls.
Agriculture had the highest share of child laborers at 65.3%, followed by services (30.7%) and industry (4%).
Earlier, Labor Undersecretary Benjo Santos M. Benavidez said the agency is working to eliminate child labor and prevent child labor practices. — Aubrey Rose A. Inosante