Trends in child labor and the impact on health in adulthood in Brazil
					from 1998 to 2008

Nishijima, Marislei; Souza, André Portela Fernandes de; Sarti, Flávia Mori

doi:10.1590/0102-311X00009914

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Brasil

Cadernos de Saúde Pública

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Brasil

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Sumário

ARTICLE • Cad. Saúde Pública 31 (5) • May 2015 • https://doi.org/10.1590/0102-311X00009914 copy

Trends in child labor and the impact on health in adulthood in Brazil from 1998 to 2008

Evolução e impacto do trabalho infantil na saúde de indivíduos adultos no Brasil entre 1998 e 2008

Evolución e impacto del trabajo infantil en la salud de los individuos adultos en Brasil entre 1998 y 2008

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

There is little evidence in Brazil on the impact of child labor on health status in adulthood. This study aimed to investigate trends in child labor in Brazil and estimate the long-term effects of child labor on the health of Brazilian adults, using nationally representative databases (Brazilian National Household Sample Survey) from three different years (1998, 2003, and 2008). The models were based on a two-stage linear equation and Generalized Method of Moments (GMM). The results suggest that child labor has declined in Brazil, although the data still show patterns of early entry into the country’s labor market. Regardless of the type of work, child labor adversely affected health outcomes in adulthood, both directly (impacts on health outcomes) and indirectly (losses in educational attainment). Child labor places a long-term burden on Brazilians, jeopardizing the formation of human capital through negative impacts on health outcomes in adulthood.

Child Labor; Adult Health; Health Promotion; Education

Variables	1998		2003		2008
Variables	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD
Health status variables
Good health status (yes/no)	0.77	0.42	0.77	0.42	0.76	0.43
Physical difficulties (yes/no)	0.23	0.42	0.21	0.41	0.23	0.42
Chronic diseases (yes/no)	0.41	0.49	0.36	0.48	0.35	0.48
Arthritis (yes/no)	0.09	0.28	0.06	0.23	0.05	0.21
Asthma (yes/no)	0.03	0.17	0.03	0.18	0.03	0.18
Backache (yes/no)	0.26	0.44	0.18	0.38	0.17	0.37
Cancer (yes/no)	0.00	0.04	0.00	0.06	0.00	0.06
Cirrhosis (yes/no)	0.00	0.05	0.00	0.04	0.00	0.04
Depression (yes/no)	0.07	0.25	0.05	0.22	0.04	0.21
Diabetes (yes/no)	0.02	0.13	0.02	0.14	0.03	0.16
Heart diseases (yes/no)	0.03	0.18	0.03	0.17	0.03	0.16
Hypertension (yes/no)	0.12	0.33	0.13	0.33	0.13	0.34
Renal diseases (yes/no)	0.04	0.19	0.02	0.15	0.01	0.12
Tendinitis (yes/no)	0.03	0.16	0.03	0.18	0.03	0.18
Tuberculosis (yes/no)	0.00	0.03	0.00	0.04	0.00	0.04
Control variables
Age at first job (years)	13.02	4.15	13.29	4.11	13.75	4.07
Age (years)	36.96	8.93	37.48	8.97	38.33	8.88
Educational attainment (years)	6.41	4.46	7.07	4.44	7.93	4.42
Race (white/other)	0.53	0.50	0.49	0.50	0.45	0.50
Sex (male/female)	0.59	0.49	0.57	0.49	0.56	0.50
Income * (USD)	504.08	862.54	471.97	743.28	563.23	902.21
Migration (yes/no)	0.21	0.41	0.22	0.41	0.21	0.40
Instrumental variables
GDP per capita ** (USD)	3,537.67	2,646.67	4,225.52	3,024.23	4,950.55	3,331.99
Hospitals *** (per 10,000 inhabitants)	0.42	0.20	0.43	0.19	0.44	0.19
Hospital beds *** (per 10,000 inhabitants)	34.10	16.23	34.41	15.46	34.72	14.72
Physicians *** (per 10,000 inhabitants)	6.23	7.29	7.10	7.21	8.41	9.51
Schools *** (per 10,000 children)	42.00	16.28	44.49	17.52	46.29	18.23
Enrollment *** (per 10,000 children)	3,668.00	1,464.31	4,159.87	1,555.60	4,700.66	1,658.20
Teachers *** (per 10,000 children)	132.90	67.13	156.65	74.10	183.50	83.22

Age at first job (years)	1998			2003			2008
Age at first job (years)	% population	% cumulative	% chronic disease *	% population	% cumulative	% chronic disease *	% population	% cumulative	% chronic disease *
4	0.05	0.05	0.55	0.04	0.04	0.61	0.02	0.02	0.39
5	0.56	0.61	0.56	0.48	0.53	0.42	0.40	0.42	0.41
6	1.10	1.71	0.53	1.01	1.54	0.43	0.83	1.25	0.43
7	4.52	6.23	0.51	4.28	5.82	0.42	3.38	4.63	0.44
8	7.47	13.70	0.47	6.68	12.50	0.39	5.47	10.10	0.41
9	5.65	19.35	0.45	5.02	17.53	0.38	4.23	14.33	0.41
10	14.56	33.92	0.43	13.15	30.68	0.34	10.74	25.07	0.35
11	3.93	37.84	0.41	3.57	34.25	0.35	3.48	28.56	0.38
12	11.79	49.63	0.42	11.62	45.87	0.35	11.70	40.26	0.34
13	6.73	56.36	0.39	6.73	52.60	0.36	6.85	47.11	0.35
14	10.14	66.50	0.38	10.31	62.91	0.34	10.69	57.80	0.33
15	8.67	75.17	0.37	9.56	72.47	0.33	10.50	68.30	0.32
16	5.93	81.10	0.37	6.86	79.32	0.33	8.17	76.47	0.30
17	4.23	85.33	0.37	4.79	84.11	0.34	5.93	82.40	0.32
18	6.56	91.90	0.37	7.41	91.53	0.34	8.47	90.88	0.31
20	2.35	96.18	0.39	2.58	96.25	0.35	2.68	95.91	0.32
25	0.40	99.19	0.47	0.45	99.26	0.45	0.44	99.19	0.39
30	0.16	99.79	0.52	0.15	99.84	0.56	0.13	99.79	0.49

1998	Age		1^st job		Sex		Educa-tion		Race		School		Enroll-ment		Tea-chers		Hospi-tals		Beds		Physi-cians
Age	1.00
Age at 1^st job	0.11	*	1.00
Sex	-0.03	*	-0.14	*	1.00
Education	-0.06	*	0.42	*	-0.07	*	1.00
Race	0.05	*	0.11	*	-0.01	*	0.27	*	1.00
Schools	-0.39	*	-0.10	*	0.00		-0.08	*	-0.05	*	1.00
Enrollment	-0.77	*	-0.09	*	0.03	*	0.08	*	0.05	*	0.44	*	1.00
Teachers	-0.78	*	-0.07	*	0.02	*	0.11	*	0.11	*	0.41	*	0.88	*	1.00
Hospitals	-0.20	*	-0.04	*	0.01	*	0.11	*	0.21	*	0.13	*	0.55	*	0.45	*	1.00
Hospital beds	-0.19	*	0.09	*	0.02	*	0.22	*	0.30	*	-0.20	*	0.45	*	0.49	*	0.58	*	1.00
Physicians	-0.31	*	0.03	*	0.02	*	0.11	*	0.09	*	-0.12	*	0.31	*	0.33	*	0.21	*	0.45	*	1.00
GDP	-0.59	*	0.01	**	0.03	*	0.22	*	0.23	*	-0.04	*	0.68	*	0.73	*	0.53	*	0.80	*	0.45	*

2003	Age		1^st job		Sex		Educa-tion		Race		School		Enroll-ment		Tea-chers		Hospi-tals		Beds		Physi-cians

Age	1.00
Age at 1^stjob	0.11	*	1.00
Sex	-0.04	*	-0.14	*	1.00
Education	-0.08	*	0.40	*	-0.09	*	1.00
Race	0.06	*	0.11	*	-0.03	*	0.25	*	1.00
Schools	-0.33	*	-0.11	*	0.01	*	-0.10	*	-0.09	*	1.00
Enrollment	-0.76	*	-0.10	*	0.03	*	0.09	*	0.02	*	0.40	*	1.00
Teachers	-0.77	*	-0.09	*	0.03	*	0.11	*	0.10	*	0.38	*	0.87	*	1.00
Hospitals	-0.20	*	-0.04	*	0.00		0.11	*	0.21	*	0.09	*	0.50	*	0.39	*	1.00
Hospital beds	-0.16	*	0.09	*	0.00		0.22	*	0.30	*	-0.29	*	0.36	*	0.42	*	0.59	*	1.00
Physicians	-0.32	*	0.03	*	0.01	*	0.12	*	0.10	*	-0.14	*	0.31	*	0.34	*	0.21	*	0.47	*	1.00
GDP	-0.60	*	0.02	*	0.02	*	0.23	*	0.22	*	-0.14	*	0.62	*	0.68	*	0.51	*	0.76	*	0.47	*

2008	Age		1^st job		Sex		Educa-tion		Race		School		Enroll-ment		Tea-chers		Hospi-tals		Beds		Physi-cians

Age	1.00
Age at 1^stjob	0.07	*	1.00
Sex	-0.04	*	-0.13	*	1.00
Education	-0.11	*	0.39	*	-0.11	*	1.00
Race	0.06	*	0.10	*	-0.03	*	0.21	*	1.00
Schools	-0.24	*	-0.08	*	0.01	**	-0.10	*	-0.09	*	1.00
Enrollment	-0.74	*	-0.05	*	0.02	*	0.11	*	0.02	*	0.33	*	1.00
Teachers	-0.72	*	-0.03	*	0.02	*	0.13	*	0.10	*	0.32	*	0.86	*	1.00
Hospitals	-0.21	*	-0.03	*	0.00		0.11	**	0.17	*	0.05	*	0.43	*	0.32	*	1.00
Hospital beds	-0.11	*	0.10	*	-0.01		0.21	*	0.27	*	-0.38	*	0.28	*	0.35	*	0.54	*
Physicians	-0.29	*	-0.01	*	0.02	*	0.09	*	0.07	*	-0.15	*	0.26	*	0.29	*	0.18	*	0.37	*	1.00
GDP	-0.56	*	0.06	*	0.01	*	0.25	*	0.20	*	-0.26	*	0.57	*	0.62	*	0.45	*	0.73	*	0.38	*

Independent variables	Chronic disease
	1998		2003		2008
	Coefficient	SE	Coefficient	SE	Coefficient	SE
Educational attainment	-0.0081	0.02	0.0203	0.02	-0.0169	0.02
Child labor	0.2210 *	0.12	0.3790 **	0.10	0.1680 ***	0.08
Migration	-0.0069	0.01	0.0138 **	0.00	0.0059	0.00
Age	0.0144 **	0.00	0.0168 **	0.00	0.0131 **	0.00
Sex	-0.1340 **	0.01	-0.1300**	0.01	-0.1290 **	0.01
Race	-0.0004	0.03	-0.0175	0.02	0.0144	0.02
Hospitals	0.0062	0.01	-0.0378 ***	0.02	0.0123	0.02
Hospital beds	-0.0006 ***	0.00	0.0003	0.00	-0.0008 **	0.00
Physicians	-0.0002	0.00	0.0000	0.00	0.0001	0.00
Income per adult equivalent ^#	0.0000	0.00	0.0000	0.00	0.0000	0.00
α	-0.1620	0.29	-0.6870 **	0.26	-0.0779	0.24
N	106,322		123,567		132,287
R2	0.0750		0.0100		0.0580

Independent variables	Physical difficulty
	1998		2003		2008
	Coefficient	SE	Coefficient	SE	Coefficient	SE

Educational attainment	-0.0384 *	0.02	0.0240	0.02	-0.0106	0.02
Child labor	0.3800 **	0.11	0.5260 **	0.09	0.1660 ***	0.07
Migration	-0.0118 ***	0.00	-0.0106 **	0.00	-0.0088 ***	0.00
Age	0.0103 **	0.00	0.0141 **	0.00	0.0099 **	0.00
Sex	-0.1740 **	0.01	-0.1310 **	0.01	-0.1270 **	0.01
Race	0.0533 ***	0.03	-0.0280	0.02	-0.0021	0.02
Hospitals	-0.0618 **	0.01	-0.0496 **	0.02	0.0140	0.01
Hospital beds	0.0000	0.00	0.0005 *	0.00	-0.0008 **	0.00
Physicians	-0.0002	0.00	-0.0001	0.00	0.0001	0.00
Income per adult equivalent ^#	0.0001 ***	0.00	0.0000	0.00	0.0000	0.00
α	-0.0965	0.27	-0.8340 **	0.22	-0.0718	0.21
N	106,322		123,567		132,287
R2	-0.1130		-0.1420		0.0660

Independent variables	Good health status
	1998		2003		2008
	Coefficient	SE	Coefficient	SE	Coefficient	SE

Educational attainment	0.0477 ***	0.02	0.0235	0.01	0.0042	0.02
Child labor	-0.3410 **	0.11	-0.2410 **	0.09	-0.2240 **	0.07
Migration	-0.0044	0.00	-0.0102 **	0.00	-0.0016	0.00
Age	-0.0078 **	0.00	-0.0079 **	0.00	-0.0092 **	0.00
Sex	0.1410 **	0.01	0.1010 **	0.01	0.0811 **	0.01
Race	-0.0474 *	0.03	0.0014	0.02	0.0251	0.02
Hospitals	0.0349 **	0.01	0.0357 ***	0.01	0.0089	0.01
Hospital beds	0.0004	0.00	0.0002	0.00	0.0005 *	0.00
Physicians	-0.0002	0.00	0.0002	0.00	-0.0002	0.00
Income per adult equivalent ^#	-0.0001 ***	0.00	0.0000	0.00	0.0000	0.00
α	0.8560 **	0.26	0.9370 **	0.22	1.1640 **	0.21
N	106,322		123,567		132,287
R2	-0.1260		0.0320		0.0590

Independent variables	1998
	Chronic disease		Physical difficulty		Good health status
	Coefficient	SE	Coefficient	SE	Coefficient	SE
Educational attainment	-0.0084	0.02	-0.0388 *	0.02	0.0484 **	0.02
Child labor	0.2190 *	0.12	0.3780 ***	0.11	-0.3390 ***	0.11
Migration	-0.0069	0.01	-0.0117 **	0.00	-0.0046	0.00
Age	0.0144 ***	0.00	0.0103 ***	0.00	-0.0077 ***	0.00
Sex	-0.1340 ***	0.01	-0.1750 ***	0.01	0.1410 ***	0.01
Race	-0.0001	0.03	0.0539 **	0.03	-0.0484 *	0.03
Hospitals	0.0062	0.01	-0.0652 ***	0.01	0.0387 ***	0.01
Hospital beds	-0.0006 **	0.00	0.0000	0.00	0.0004	0.00
Physicians	-0.0002	0.00	-0.0003	0.00	-0.0002	0.00
Income ^#	0.0000	0.00	0.0001 **	0.00	-0.0001 **	0.00
α	-0.1570	0.29	-0.0903	0.27	0.8460 ***	0.26
N	106,322		106,322		106,322
R2	0.0760		-0.1150		-0.1290

Independent variables	2003
	Chronic disease		Physical difficulty		Good health status
	Coefficient	SE	Coefficient	SE	Coefficient	SE

Educational attainment	0.0212	0.02	0.0248 *	0.02	0.0230	0.01
Child labor	0.3760 ***	0.10	0.5140 ***	0.09	-0.2270 **	0.09
Migration	0.0139 ***	0.00	-0.0103 ***	0.00	-0.0106 ***	0.00
Age	0.0168 ***	0.00	0.0140 ***	0.00	-0.0079 ***	0.00
Sex	-0.1300 ***	0.01	-0.1290 ***	0.01	0.0993 ***	0.01
Race	-0.0188	0.02	-0.0295 *	0.02	0.0027	0.02
Hospitals	-0.0373 **	0.02	-0.0502 ***	0.02	0.0349 **	0.01
Hospital beds	0.0003	0.00	0.0005 *	0.00	0.0002	0.00
Physicians	0.0000	0.00	-0.0001	0.00	0.0002	0.00
Income per capita	0.0000	0.00	0.0000	0.00	0.0000	0.00
α	-0.6920 ***	0.26	-0.8280 ***	0.22	0.9270 ***	0.22
N	123,567		123,567		123,567
R2	0.0100		-0.1360		0.0380

Independent variables	2008
	Chronic disease		Physical difficulty		Good health status
	Coefficient	SE	Coefficient	SE	Coefficient	SE

Educational attainment	-0.0184	0.02	-0.0140	0.02	0.0073	0.02
Child labor	0.1550 *	0.08	0.1380 **	0.07	-0.2010 ***	0.07
Migration	0.0063	0.00	-0.0079 **	0.00	-0.0023	0.00
Age	0.0129 ***	0.00	0.0096 ***	0.00	-0.0088 ***	0.00
Sex	-0.1290 ***	0.01	-0.1270 ***	0.01	0.0818 **	0.01
Race	0.0155	0.02	0.0003	0.02	0.0227	0.02
Hospitals	0.0148	0.02	0.0166	0.01	0.0063	0.01
Hospital beds	-0.0008 ***	0.00	-0.0008 ***	0.00	0.0005 **	0.00
Physicians	0.0001	0.00	0.0001	0.00	-0.0002	0.00
Income per capita	0.0000	0.00	0.0000	0.00	0.0000	0.00
α	-0.0522	0.24	-0.0102	0.20	1.1090 ***	0.21
N	132,287		132,287		132,287
R2	0.0570		0.0690		0.0670

Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública Sergio Arouca, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz Rua Leopoldo Bulhões, 1480 , 21041-210 Rio de Janeiro RJ Brazil, Tel.:+55 21 2598-2511, Fax: +55 21 2598-2737 / +55 21 2598-2514 - Rio de Janeiro - RJ - Brazil
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[1] Correspondence:F. M. Sarti. Escola de Artes, Ciências e Humanidades, Universidade de São Paulo. Av. Arlindo Bettio 1000, sala 302-A, São Paulo, SP. 03828-000, Brasil. flamori@usp.br