THE NUMBER of children working in the country fell 26% to 1.09 million in 2023, the Philippine Statistical Authority (PSA) said on Wednesday.
PSA data shows that the number of working children between the ages of five and 17 has fallen by more than 383,000 in 2023, compared to around 1.48 million in 2022.
The share of working children fell to 3.5% of the child population in 2023, down from 4.7% the year before.
The term ‘working children’ includes all children involved in any form of economic activity, regardless of their age or the nature of the work, PSA said.
Of the 1.09 million working children, boys made up 59.1% of the total, while girls accounted for 40.9%.
The service sector employed 50% of working children, just over 49.5% in 2022.
The share of child workers in the agricultural sector increased from 43.2% in 2022 to 43.7% in 2023.
The industry had the smallest share of working children at 6.3% in 2023, compared to 7.3% in 2022.
In 2023, 73.7% of working children worked 20 hours or less per week, according to PSA. This was lower than 75.6% a year earlier.
Meanwhile, the number of working children involved in “child labor” was estimated at about 678,000 in 2023, down from about 828,000 a year earlier.
Child labor is defined by the PSA as working children who perform hazardous work or whose work lasts longer than 40 hours.
The statistics agency estimated that 62% of the total number of working children were involved in child labor in 2023. The ratio was 56% in 2022 and 68.4% in 2021.
Of the estimated 678,000 working children involved in child labor in 2023, 62.1% (422,000) were boys, while 37.9% (257,000) were girls.
Agriculture had the highest share of child laborers at 65.3%, followed by the services sector (30.7%) and industry (4%).
Earlier, Labor Undersecretary Benjo Santos M. Benavidez said the agency is working to eliminate child labor and prevent child labor. — Aubrey Rose A. Inosante