The Survey on Children (SOC) is a nationwide survey designed to collect data on the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of working children 5 to 17 years old.  The survey is a joint collaboration between the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the National Statistics Office (NSO) as part of the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (ILO-IPEC). 

 

As rider to the Labor Force Survey (LFS), the SOC covered about 50,000 sample households. The survey involves the collection of data through personal interviews with the household as the reporting unit.  This means that the statistics emanating from the survey refer to the characteristics of the population residing in private households. In this survey, the ultimate sampling unit was the child worker 5 to 17 years old.

 

In this release, child labor includes:(i) hazardous work (hazardous child labor) which encompasses undesirable activities or work done in hazardous environment (as identified in DOLE Order No. 04 (1999) on ‘Hazardous work and activities to persons below 18 years of age’), and work done for long hours and/or night time or the entire day by children in ages 15 to 17 years (Section 12A (2) and (3) of RA No.9231); and (ii) those classified as other child labor, that is, work by children below fifteen (15) years of age in excess of the allowable work hours (Sec. 12A (1) of RA No. 9231).

 

Hazardous work is an employment or work where a child is exposed to any risk which constitutes an imminent danger or likely to be harmful to the health, safety or morals of young persons.  Work performed in an unhealthy and unsafe environment exposes the child to hazardous working condition such as extreme temperatures, hazardous elements, substances or to biological agents such as bacteria, fungi, and other parasites.