Journal of Developing Areas, vol.42, no.1, pp.95-115, 2008 (Peer-Reviewed Journal)
ABSTRACT
The paper attempts to identify the link between children’s employment and that of their mothers in
Turkey’s labor market. Statistical evidence indicates that a disproportionately larger number of
employed women are in households where there is at least one working child. Considering that this
may not be a random occurrence the study treats mother’s employment to be endogenous to the
employment decision of children. Indeed, the study establishes that mother’s employment decision
and that of children cannot be thought independently of each other. The unobservables that increase
the likelihood of women’s employment also increase the employment probability of children, in
particularly of female children. The findings of the paper question the current policy initiatives
geared toward decreasing child labor and recommends that poverty alleviation programs be
carefully designed taking into account the link between mother’s and children’s employment.