Effects of Child Labor on Future Labor Income via Education Mediation

Abstract

This research analyzes the consequences of child labor on the future income from work, transmitted indirectly through the level of education. Causal mediation analysis, developed by Imai, Keele e Tingley
(2010), was applied to data from the National Household Sample Survey (PNAD) of 2014. The results show that the wage losses suffered by Brazilian workers who entered the labor market early are not exclusively due to the fact of having work in childhood, but are also explained by the educational loss suffered due to premature occupational insertion, which is responsible for 80\% of the total estimated effect. They also show that the mediation effect gains strength in the North, Southeast, and Northeast regions of the country, where the income penalty, explained by the negative effect of child labor on the accumulation of human capital, is estimated at 28.2%, 16.8% and 16%, respectively.