Child labor in Italy: 336,000 children and adolescents between the ages of 7 and 15, almost 1 child out of 15, have practiced a trade

ROME – According to a recent study by Save the Children, it is estimated that 336,000 children and adolescents between the ages of 7 and 15 – equal to 6.8%, almost 1 child out of 15 – have had work experience. 27.8% of 14-15 year-olds who claim to have had work experience have been involved in work activities harmful to schooling and psychophysical well-being. This is about 58,000 teenagers. A new national survey conducted by Save the Children, ten years after the presentation of the latest research on child labor in Italy, highlights how the involvement of boys and girls in work activities before the age permitted by law (16 years) is still widespread in our country. Among 14-15 year olds, 1 in 5 works or has worked and, among the latter, more than one in 10 started working at 11 or earlier. Among the boys in the juvenile justice circuit the incidence is even higher: more than one interviewee out of 3 worked before the permitted age.

An underground phenomenon and “It’s not a game”. The phenomenon of child labour, which remains mostly undeclared in Italy in the absence of official statistical surveys, mainly affects the catering, commerce, agricultural and construction site sectors. New working areas are also emerging, such as those related to the digital world. The research shows a positive relationship between child labor and early school leaving: a vicious circle of poverty and exclusion. The research was presented in Rome, in the presence, among others, of Marina Elvira Calderone, Minister of Labor and Social Policies “It’s not a game”, the podcast available on Spotify and on all free streaming platforms, starting yesterday and for 4 weeks. It was made by Save the Children in partnership with Will Media.

The sectors mainly concerned. The main economic sectors at the center of the phenomenon of child labor are catering (25.9%) and retail sales in shops and commercial activities (16.2%), followed by activities in the countryside (9.1%), in construction site (7.8%), from continuous care activities of brothers, sisters or relatives (7.3%)[1]. But new forms of online work are also emerging (5.7%), such as the creation of content for social media or video games, or the reselling of sneakers, smartphones and pods for electronic cigarettes. In the period in which they work, more than half of the interviewees do it every day or a few times a week and about 1 in 2 works more than 4 hours a day.

Some data collected. These are just some of the data collected by “It’s not a game”, the new survey on child labor in our country, according to which almost one 14-15 year old out of five carries out, or has carried out, a job before the permitted legal age (16 years). The survey, conducted ten years after the presentation of the latest data and research on child labor in Italy by Save the Children has the objective of defining the contours of the phenomenon, understanding its characteristics, evolution over time and the connections with early school leaving, and wants to at least partially make up for the lack of systemic data collection on the subject in Italy. The research data will be made available on the new one datahub Of Save the Childrena portal created to monitor inequalities, map areas at risk, guide policies and social action, build shared knowledge of the world of childhood and adolescence.

The relationship between labor and juvenile justice. The Organization’s study also investigated the relationship between work and juvenile justice, highlighting a strong link between too early work experiences and involvement in the criminal circuit. Almost 40% of minors and young adults taken into care by the Juvenile Justice Services – more than one in 3 – stated that they had carried out work activities before the permitted legal age. Among these, more than one in 10 minors started working at the age of 11 or earlier and more than 60% have carried out work activities harmful to their development and psychophysical well-being.

Damage to business continuity. “For many boys and girls in Italy, entering the world of work too early, before the permitted age, negatively affects growth and educational continuity, fueling the phenomenon of early school leaving. These are young people who risk remaining trapped in the vicious circle of educational poverty, effectively blocking aspirations for the future, also in terms of training and professional development, with heavy repercussions also on adulthood” declared Claudio Tesauro, President of Save the Children.

The numbers released by the ILO. Around the world, although most states have ratified the International Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention ofInternational Labor Organization (ILO) no. 138 (1973), child labor is still widespread. According to ILO and Unicef ​​data, in 2020 globally around 160 million girls, boys and adolescents between the ages of 7 and 15 worked. Of these, 79 million have carried out dangerous jobs, capable of damaging health and psychophysical and moral development.

Child labor and surveys of the phenomenon in Italy. In Italy the law establishes the possibility for adolescents to start working at the age of 16, having completed compulsory schooling. Already according to a survey carried out by Save the Children And Bruno Trentin Association in 2013, minors between the ages of 7 and 15 who had experienced a job before the legal age allowed in the country numbered around 340,000, almost 7% of the reference population. Based on a second research, conducted in 2014 by Save the Children in collaboration with the Department of Juvenile and Community Justice, 66% of adolescents involved in the criminal circuit had worked before the age of 16. Minors who work before the permitted legal age risk compromising their educational and growth paths. As certified by Istat, the share of 18-24 year olds ‘missing’, i.e. leaving the education and training system without having obtained a diploma or qualification, was 12.7% of the total in 2021, against an average European by 9.7%.

The intergenerational transmission of poverty. Child labor can also influence the future condition of ‘NEET’ young people – those without school, without work, without training – fueling the intergenerational transmission of poverty and social exclusion. Boys and girls aged between 15 and 29 in this situation in Italy are more than 1 million and 500 thousand in 2022, 19% of the reference population, with a value in Europe second only to that observed in Romania. The economic crisis and the increase in poverty in Italy – 1 million 382 thousand minors live in poverty, 14.2% of the total – risk increasing the number of minors forced to work ahead of time, pushing many towards the most intense forms of exploitation. However, the lack of a systematic statistical survey on child labor in our country does not allow us to define the contours of the phenomenon and undertake effective actions to combat the phenomenon.

The proposals. “The research highlights how many young people in Italy today enter the world of work through the wrong door – says Raffaela Milano, director of the Italy-EU program of Save the Children – too soon, without a contract, no form of protection, protection and knowledge of their rights and this negatively affects their growth and their educational path. Premature child labor is in fact the other side of the coin of early school leaving. In a season of economic crisis and strong growth in child poverty, the risk is that the picture could get even worse, in the absence of interventions. For this – added Raffaela Milano – we ask for a coordinated institutional action which first of all systematically detects the consistency of the phenomenon in the various territories and implements measures aimed at preventing it.