Over 80,000 children between the ages of 5 and 14 work within the state of Guanajuato, which account for 3.6 percent of the region’s working population.
According to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), there are 1.7 million children within the state, and approximately 5 percent of them is obligated to work.
In the same INEGI report, 2.4 million people are identified as “economically active and employed.” This number refers to the people who are of age, have the ability to work and are currently employed.
However, 3.6 percent of workers are children between 5 and 14 years of age, who are currently working in various sectors of the state’s economy.
And this happening despite the existence of a federal law that prohibits employers from hiring minors under the age of 15, or under the age of 17, if they have not finished school.
Based on the latest findings of the Child Labor Module, under the auspices of the National Survey on Occupation and Employment (ENOE), of the total number of children who work within the state, 99 percent do not attend school. For the 1 percent that does, they are forced to juggle school and work, generally resulting in poor scholastic performance.
Child Labor Module has also found that 35.7 percent of employed children work in services; 23.9 percent are vendors or employed in established retail businesses; and 20 percent work in the fields.
In terms of weekly schedules, 9.2 percent of children work at least 35 hours a week, while 60.7 percent have fluctuating work schedules.
Other major risks to consider, as this study has revealed: 7.8 percent of minors work in establishments that prohibit the entry of children or that are unsuitable for children; and 2.5 percent have been injured at work or have fallen ill due to the workplace environment and have required medical attention.
The large majority of employed minors work with a member of the family (72.5 percent), and 36.2 percent of these children state that they are obligated by the family to work. Other reasons why children work include: to learn a trade (16 percent), to contribute to the household income (5 percent) and to pay for school (26.6 percent).
With respect to salary, 49.3 percent do not receive an income, 43.9 percent receive minimum wage, 4.5 percent receive slightly more or double minimum wage, and only 0.6 percent receive more than double minimum wage. (As of January 1, 2014, minimum wage in Guanajuato was set at 63.77 pesos per day, or $4.81.)
And finally, according to the Ministry of Public Education, out of Mexico’s 31 states, Guanajuato is the sixth state with the highest level of child labor, behind Puebla and Jalisco, and the Federal District.
As stated by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in a study published in April 2010: “Child labor is an obstacle to social and economic development in every country, as it undermines the competencies of future workforces, drives the intergenerational transmission of poverty and perpetuates existing disparities.”
