Interesting article from today’s NY Times titled Research Changes Ideas About Children and Work identifies poverty as the #1 reason children work instead of going to school.

A couple of highlights:

• This goes against the popular “understanding” that children go to work based on cultural expectations or poor education of their parents.
• Most working children work for their parents in agriculture, nurse not in factories.
• According to a study, ambulance rising incomes account for 60% of the reason that children no longer work.
• As income rises, parents often choose to hire [adult] labors and/or invest in productivity enhancements like fertilizers and equipment to replace the labors of their children.

The reality is that most parents know that education matters to their children and they only resort to having them work when they have no other choice for survival.

The recommendation: Alleviate poverty.