Child Labor in Transition in Vietnam

Vietnam experienced a dramatic decline in child labor during the 1990s. The aim of this study is to explore in detail this decline and to document the heterogeneity across households in both levels of child labor and in the incidence of this decline in child labor. We find a strong correlation between living standards improvements and child labor so that much of the variation in declines in child labor can be explained by variation in living standards improvements. Ethnic minority children and the children of recent migrants appear to remain particularly vulnerable even by the late 1990s. Children of all ethnicities in the Central Highlands appear to have missed many of the improvements in the 1990s while children in the rural Mekong and in Provincial Towns have experienced the largest declines in child labor. Our results suggest incorporating efforts to discourage child labor within an overall anti-poverty program. We notice that opening or closing of household enterprises seems to be associated with increases in child labor. Hence, attention should be devoted to the activities of children in the government's current program to stimulate non-farm enterprises.