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#2007-04 The Effect of Child Work on Schooling: Evidence from Egypt
Authors: Ragui Assaad, The Population Council, Cairo, and Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota; Deborah Levison, Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota, and Nadia Zibani, The Population Council, Cairo
Abstract:
The negative correlation between children’s
work and schooling is well-documented.
However, the causal link between child labor and school attainment has
not been well established in the literature.
We show that work, broadly defined, substantially reduces schooling for
both boys and girls. We present evidence
that lower rates of school attendance for Egyptian girls are caused by a
substantial burden of household work.
While market work is a serious impediment to schooling for boys, a much
larger proportion of girls than boys engage in substantial hours of work, when work
is defined to include both labor force and domestic work.
2008 IPUMS Summer Workshop