More working children are now continuing their education as the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) saw a declining trend in the number of child workers not attending school in 10 years.
PSA data showed the rate of working children not currently attending school fell to 39.1 percent in 2017 from 57.9 percent in 2007.
The year when the highest rate of working children did not attend school was recorded in 2008 at 58.5 percent while the lowest was in 2017.
“These figures only meant that working children currently attending school positively showed an increasing pattern from 42.1 percent in 2007 to 60.9 percent in 2017,” the PSA said.
The PSA said the proportion of working children who were also attending school started increasing in 2011 when the gap between those who were working and studying and those who were just working widened.
In 2017, working children attending school improved to 60.9 percent, significantly higher than the 39.1 percent which represented those who were just working and not getting their education.
Working and studying is more common for females. PSA data showed the share of working girls not attending school in 2017 was recorded at 23.2 percent, a decline of 29.5 percentage points from 52.7 percent in 2007.
The share of working boys not currently attending school in 2017 was at 46.9 percent, down from the 61 percent reported in 2007.
“By age group, the shares of working children not currently attending school were generally highest among those aged 15-17 years old although these shares declined over the years,” the PSA said.
In 2017, there were 29.398 million children nationwide, 4.9 percent higher than 28.013 million recorded in 2007. Of this number, around 1.344 million children were working in 2017. This 42 percent lower than the 2.316 million children in 2007.
The number of working children aged 5 to 9 declined by 52.5 percent to 57,000 in 2017, from 120,000 in 2007. This was the largest drop among working children in terms of age group.
This was followed by those in the 10 to 14 age group at 47 percent to 393,000 in 2017, from 742,000 in 2007 and the 15 to 17 age group with a 38.5-percent decline to 894,000 in 2017, from 1.454 million in 2007.
With the decline in the number of working children, the PSA also noted a decline in their economic activities to 4.6 percent in 2017, from 8.3 percent in 2007. The economic activity rate of children registered its peak of 8.5 percent in 2011.
“The economic activity rate of children computed as the proportion of working children to total population of children in the country followed a generally declining trend from 2007 to 2017,” the PSA said.
Working children were employed as service workers and shop and market sales workers while others were hired as farmers, forestry workers and fishermen, as well as trades and related workers.
However, the PSA noted that more and more working children are being hired as service workers and shop and market sales workers.
Children hired in the service sector increased to 22.5 percent in 2017, from 12.9 percent in 2007. Those hired as laborers and unskilled workers declined to 65.8 percent in 2017, from 75 percent.
“The trend on the type of occupation these working children are involved with over time showed that a decreasing pattern is evident in the share of working children employed as laborers and unskilled workers,” the PSA said.