| David Post
University of Pittsburgh
Academic achievement by working eighth-grade students in ten nations
Why do certain types of employment for adolescents lower their academic achievement, while other types of work prove less harmful? In which context does child labor most negatively affect learning, and where is it neutral? Finally, are there national and school policies and procedures associated with negative and with neutral outcomes? These questions acquire urgency for policy analysts and child advocates following the 1999 ratification of ILO Convention 182. This convention, unlike its predecessors, targets only the most harmful child labor for eradication, leaving for investigation in each nation the question of what work harms children. My proposed research will address this new agenda using the 1999 Third International Math and Science Study (TIMSS-R). I propose to study the consequences of paid employment and employment intensity in ten different cultural and policy settings in ten different nations. I will use multi-level modeling to estimate the family and school-level contextual effects of student employment. My findings will have relevance to proprams both of the US Department of Labor and those of the International Labour Organization.
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