Essays on Child Labour and Schooling in Ghana

Abstract

This thesis consists of three papers on child labour and schooling in Ghana. The first paper

examines the correlates of child labour and schooling, as well as the trade-off between work

and schooling of children aged 5-17 years with the 2013 Ghana Living Standard Survey data.

A bivariate probit model is used since the decisions to participate in schooling and in the

labour market are interdependent. The results show that there is a gender gap both in child

work and schooling. In particular, boys are less likely to work (and more likely to be enrolled

in schools) relative to girls. Whereas parent education, household wealth and income of the

family are negatively correlated with child work, these factors influence schooling positively.

In addition, parents‟ employment status, ownership of livestock, distance to school, child

wage and schooling expenditure increase the probability of child labour and reduce the

likelihood of school enrolment. In terms of the relationship between child labour and

schooling, the results show that an additional hour of child labour is associated with 0.15

hour (9 minutes) reduction in daily hours of school attendance; and the effect is bigger for

girls relative to boys. Also, one more hour of child labour is associated with an increase in the

probability of a child falling behind in grade progression by 1.4 percentage points.

The second paper estimates the impact of Ghana‟s Livelihood Empowerment Against

Poverty (LEAP) cash transfer programme on schooling outcomes (enrolment, attendance

hours, repetition and test scores) and child labour in farming and non-farm enterprises. Using

longitudinal data, the paper employs three different quasi-experimental methods (propensity

score matching, difference-in-difference, and difference-in-difference combined with

matching). Overall, the results show that the LEAP programme had no effect on school

enrolment and test scores, but it increased the weekly hours of class attendance by 5.2 hours

and reduced repetition rate by 11 percentage points for children in households that benefited

from the programme. In addition, there was heterogeneity in these impacts, with boys

benefiting more relative to girls. In terms of child labour, the results show that the

programme had no effect on the extensive margin of child labour in farming and non-farm

enterprises. However, the LEAP programme reduced the intensity of farm work done by

children by as much as 2.6 hours per day. The largest impact of the programme, in terms of

reduction in the intensity of child labour in farming, occurred in female-headed and

extremely poor households.

The last paper investigates the impact of mothers‟ autonomy or bargaining power in the

household on their children‟s schooling and child labour in Ghana. The paper uses a noneconomic

measure of women‟s autonomy, which is an index constructed from five questions

on power relations between men and women. The paper employs both an Ordinary Least

Square (OLS) and an Instrumental Variable (IV) approach. Overall, the results suggest that

ignoring the endogeneity of mothers‟ autonomy underestimates its true impact on schooling

and child labour. They also show that an increase in mothers‟ autonomy increases school

enrolment and hours of class attendance, with girls benefiting more than boys. The paper

finds a negative relationship between mothers‟ autonomy and both the extensive and

intensive margin of child labour. In addition, it demonstrates that improvement in women‟s

autonomy has bigger impacts on rural children‟s welfare relative to urban children.