Trade Liberalization and Child Labour: Empirical Evidence from Manufacturing Sector of Pakistan

Abstract

Employing micro-level datasets of Pakistan, we examine the relationship between child labor and trade liberalization with special emphasis on the manufacturing sector during the period 1990-to 2005. The impact of liberalization of trade is found to be positive and significantly related to child labor. Our study found that the protection rate contributes to the lessening of child labor in the manufacturing sectors of Pakistan that experienced the largest tariffs cut throughout the trade regime. The findings are robust to the inclusion of related controls. This study also found that the lagged impact of trade policy equally led to the decline of child labor. The policy insinuation is that developing nations should liberalize their economies to gain from the benefits of trade liberalization to reduce child labor.