Determinantes del trabajo infantil y la escolaridad: el caso del Valle del Cauca en Colombia

Colombia, like most Latin American countries and being aware of the negative social and economic impact of child labor, has been committed to fight for the eradication of this phenomenon. This is evidenced by the Colombian government’s ratification in 2007 of the ILO Convention 182 concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action against the Worst Forms of Child Labor. At the regional level, as part of the Development Plan for the Department of Valle del Cauca 2008 -2011, the government is currently carrying out a strategy to eliminate child labor in its 42 municipalities. Taking this background into account, this paper investigates the determinants of child labor and school attendance in the Department of Valle, based upon the National Survey on the Quality of Life of 2003. The analysis employs a bivariate Probit econometric model that allows a joint and interrelated study of different decisions, in this case school attendance and labor.