It is evident that the less developed a country is, the greater the proportion of the child population who work. It is also clear that the more elementary the type of economic activity or the kind of occupation that does not need specific skills, the larger the relative size of the working children in that particular industry or occupation. These factors influence the level of distribution of the total number of working children by branch of economic activity or by occupation in any specific country. As a result, the relative level of the child workforce in any industry or occupation could vary widely from one country to another. Most of the former activities are performed in the urban centres.
Many children work long hours every day of the week.
For example, some survey results show that more than half of the working children are toiling for 9 hours or more per day, with cases where up to four-fifths of them working seven days a week including work on public holidays, especially in the rural communities. There are cases where children work 56 hours or more per week. Most of those working as paid employees are paid much less than the prevailing rates in their localities, even when compared with the legal minimum wages, receiving only one-sixth of the minimum rate in one survey finding. Also the younger the working child, the lower the wage payment. On average, girls work longer hours than boys and are paid less than their working brothers doing the same type of work.