hm child labor case study

A Piece of Work: H&M’s Take on Child Labour in Myanmar

Like every other corporation, the Swedish fashion multinational Hennes & Mauritz has the responsibility to make sure that human rights are respected throughout its supply chain. The efforts that are made to respect human rights should also be showcased.  This is set out in the United Nations Guiding Principles, the most comprehensive template on Business and Human Rights to date. The publication of H&M’s statement that the company started contracting with manufacturers in Hlaing Thar Yar Township (Myanmar) was fully in line with these principles.

A recent statement from H&M that was published in the Guardian has however shown a very different side of the retailer.  This document was issued in response to the claims that were made in the new book Modeslavar by Tobias Andersson Åkerblom and Moa Kärnstrand. The response of H&M reads as follows:

‘When 14- to 18-year-olds are working it is therefore not a case of child labour, according to international labour laws. ILO instead stresses the importance of not excluding this age group from work in Myanmar. H&M does of course not tolerate child labour in any form.’

Without wishing to go into the details of the allegations that were made by the two research journalists, this contribution points out two concerns that make H&M’s statement problematic. The first concern relates to the reference to the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The claim that the ILO would ‘stress the importance’ that children as young as fourteen can work is not correct. The confusing communication seems to build on an exception in Article 2.3 of the ILO’s Minimum Age Convention No. 138 (1973). This exception stipulates that some state parties can declare that the minimum age to be admitted to work is fourteen years.  The nature of the exception shows however that the ILO does not support that children as young as fourteen can work. It is an exception that can only be invoked by ‘developing countries whose economy and educational facilities are insufficiently developed’ (Articles 2.4 and 2.5 ILO Convention No. 138). In addition, the exception should be temporarily and fundamentally motivated by the developing country. Moreover, on several occasions, the ILO has explained that even non-hazardous child labour damages the health and development of all persons less than 18 years of age. The ILO declared the effective abolishment of child labour as a core labour standard. This means that this right is declared as a constitutional obligation to all member states of the ILO, even if those member-States have not ratified the relevant conventions.

The second concern addresses the statement’s suggestion that not working would deprive the child (or his/her family) of the income. Why else would the ‘exclusion’ of children from factory work be framed as an issue in the statement? Working from a young age in clothing factories in a township that is notorious for its poor human rights record does not involve the development of many skills. On the contrary, this deprives children of an education. Child labour interferes with the child’s education because of the time it takes and the physical, mental, and emotional demands on the child. This time could have been invested in skills development through education and play. This finding is supported by empirical data that indicate that over 90 % of non-working children attend school, while just 10 % of working children attend school in Myanmar. Others have also asserted that losing the income of a child is a situation to avoid at all costs. While such argument may have some merit when the focus is on certain rights applied to adults, its validity is however questionable when it is applied to children as young as fourteen years old. Poverty is not only a cause but also a consequence of child labour.  Working from a young age can have a detrimental impact on the overall development of the child.

Moreover, the interpretation of ‘exclusion of work’ by H&M is neither straightforward at the inter-country nor at the intra-country level. To begin, H&M’s interpretation does not hold water at the inter-country level. H&M started contracting with manufacturers in Hlaing Thar Yar Township only last year, after the European Union lifted many trade sanctions (which were mainly installed for political reasons). The reason is that Myanmar is an attractive country for H&M, a company that made it its mission to offer fashion at the ‘best’ price is Myanmar has a competitive advantage compared to other countries that offer low-skilled factory labour. The labour costs in Myanmar are among the cheapest in the world. This competitive advantage is further strengthened by patchy human rights regulation and little enforcement. For instance, only last year, the minimum age to work was raised from thirteen to fourteen years in the new Minimum Wages Law.

However, the end of compulsory education is still twelve years. This is problematic given the fact that leaving school typically coincides with joining the workforce in Myanmar. An ILO study has also found that Myanmar’s Factories and General Labour Laws Inspection Department imposes regulations that contradict the minimum age principles laid down in ILO Convention. The labour and legal compliance costs are therefore extremely low in Myanmar. The effect can be that workers in similarly low-skilled jobs in other developing and emerging states are driven out of their job, as Myanmar offers unconscionable competition lowering the standard of labour and legal compliance. H&M’s interpretation that children cannot be excluded from work is also flawed at the intra-country level. H&M supports employing children, in spite of high levels of adult unemployment in Myanmar. The real motivation is, of course, that child labour is less costly. The average wage of an adult in a city is Myanmar is three times as high (147500 Kyat or £ 96 per month) as that of a girl of 14 years old (48900 Kyat or £ 32 per month). In sum, the paradoxical outcome of H&M’s statement would be that young children cannot be deprived of an income from work, while more expensive adults – of the same low-skill level – in Myanmar and other countries can.

In sum, instead of denying the existence of child rights as defined in international law, H&M should take up its responsibility and avoid children’s rights being harmed in its supply chain. As long as this does not happen, other actions, such as joining the business for social responsibility’s Myanmar Responsible Sourcing Initiative, are pale in comparison.

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It’s no secret that clothes from the biggest fashion brands in the world are often made by workers with low wages and poor working conditions.

Fast fashion has consequences — and new reports have claimed that it’s causing female workers to face widespread abuse on a daily basis.

You might recognise the culprits. Indeed, you might be wearing their garbs right now.

Take Action: Ask the UK to Give More Support to Victims of Modern Slavery

H&M and Gap have been singled out in the two reports from Global Labour Justice, highlighting the “daily reality” of abuse faced by their female garment workers across factories in Asia, according to the Guardian.

And it’s all down to the excessively ambitious targets set by the companies to keep fast fashion alive at the production line.

“We must understand gender-based violence as an outcome of the global supply chain structure,” said Jennifer Rosenbaum, US director of Global Labour Justice. “H&M and Gap’s fast fashion supply chain model creates unreasonable production targets and underbid contracts, resulting in women working unpaid overtime and working very fast under extreme pressure.”

I've read countless reports and articles like this. That gender based violence in garment factories is a result of fast-fashion's unreasonable deadlines is not news to me, nor is it to @hm or @Gap . This time make your actions speak louder than your words https://t.co/k8UPruYMWd — siubhan O'Donnell (@siubhan_o) June 5, 2018

Over 540 workers alleged abusive incidents between January and May this year, and reportedly blamed their employers for imposing lightning-quick turnarounds and minimal overhead costs. The factories are based in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka.

The noted abuse includes rape, slapping, gendered bullying, and misuse of power to pursue sexual relationships. The reports also list numerous workplace malpractices, including forced overtime and preventing women from taking bathroom breaks.

Read More: Zara Clothes Come With Hidden Notes from Unpaid Workers

“[My] batch supervisor came up behind me as I was working on the sewing machine, yelling, ‘You are not meeting your target production,’” said Radhika, a woman quoted in the report employed at a H&M factory in Bangalore, India. “He pulled me out of the chair and I fell on the floor. He hit me, including on my breasts. He pulled me up and then pushed me to the floor again [and] kicked me.”

Radhika later filed a complaint. But despite the factory’s human resources department telling the supervisor to stop harassing her, nothing changed. Radhika suffered in silence, trapped in a job she needed to support her “physically challenged daughter” after the death of her husband.

It’s just one story from hundreds detailed in the report. H&M has 171,000 employees worldwide, across 4,293 stores in 35 countries, while Gap employs approximately 141,000 people across 3,617 stores .

“These allegations are deeply concerning,” said Debbie Coulter from the Ethical Trading Initiative, a worker’s rights alliance where both H&M and Gap are members. “Gender-based violence is unacceptable under any circumstances, and brands need to make sure that women working in their supply chain are protected. We expect H&M and Gap to investigate these allegations, and to work with supplier factories so that any women affected have swift access to remedy.”

Read More: British Retailers Exploit Child Syrian Refugees in Turkish Factories to Make UK Clothes

The findings are indicative of an even wider problem of exploitation and workplace neglect in the fast fashion industry. In 2016, a BBC investigation found that retailers like Marks and Spencer, Zara, and Next exploited the cheap labour of Syrian refugees in one of the largest factories in Turkey, the country with the largest refugee population in the world.

The undercover operation found that some child refugees were paid less than £1 an hour, and that health and safety regulations were forgoed for the sake of the production line. It’s a vicious cycle of modern slavery that can often lead to human trafficking — and, like the Global Labour Justice report outlined, widespread abuse.

The report has been published on the same week that the International Labour Organisation (ILO) meets to discuss action on workplace sexual harassment, and Global Labour Justice have provided a list of recommendations to tackle the issue more effectively.

Read More: YouTube Star Unboxes a Fresh Pair of Kicks — With a Modern-Day Slavery Twist

Both H&M and Gap told the Guardian they will investigate the claims and condemned gender violence, stating that discrimination was against their values.

Global Citizen campaigns to achieve the UN's Global Goals, which include action to eradicate forced labour, slavery, and human trafficking. You can join us by taking action on this issue here .

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H&M reportedly used garment factories that worked teens for 12-hour shifts

H&M is under fire for contracting with factories that allegedly violated child-labor laws.

According to the Guardian , a book being published in Sweden next week describes how two factories in Myanmar had workers as young as 14 laboring more than 12 hours a day making clothes. H&M was one of their clients. In developing countries such as Myanmar, the  international conventions  on child labor developed by the International Labour Organization do allow children to begin work at 14, but that length of workday violates both the conventions and Myanmar’s own laws.

“Indeed, ‘working at age 14’ does not as such necessarily fall within the ILO definition of child labour because ILO Convention 138 allows developing countries to set the minimum working age initially at 14 years,” an ILO spokesperson wrote in an email. “However, it would be another thing if children work long hours (especially overtime) or night shifts. Such work by under 18 year old youth is hazardous work, therefore a worst form of child labour as defined by ILO Convention 182.”

The spokesperson also noted that Myanmar has not ratified Convention 138. It is one of a handful of countries worldwide that has not, including Bangladesh, India, and the US.

Moa Kärnstrand and Tobias Andersson Akerblom, the authors of the book, which is called  Modeslavar , or Fashion Slaves , spoke with girls who worked all day until 10pm at the two factories: Myanmar Century Liaoyuan Knitted Wear and Myanmar Garment Wedge. One girl who started working at a factory when she was 14 said they would hire anyone who wanted to work.

H&M said it has demanded an action plan, including “improved recruitment routines” for handling ID cards, from the factories, where these conditions have reportedly existed since 2013. “It is unacceptable to H&M that there are teenagers with working hours that directly violate the rules,” the company said in a statement. “Any overtime must be in accordance with legislation as well as our own demands.”

It also stressed that simply having 14-year-olds working in the factories did not qualify as illegal child labor. ”ILO instead stresses the importance of not excluding this age group from work in Myanmar,” it said. “H&M does of course not tolerate child labour in any form.”

H&M has said  previously that it conducted a “thorough risk analysis” before entering Myanmar, where political reforms since 2011 have opened up the country’s garment industry to international brands. But the industry has drawn scrutiny for widespread problems. A report  (pdf) last year by Oxfam and labor-rights groups in Myanmar said that garment workers “are working up to 11 hours a day, six days a week, but remain trapped in poverty.” About 90% of the roughly 300,000 workers in the industry are young women, the report said. In addition to H&M, it pointed to Primark, Gap, and Adidas as also sourcing from the country.

H&M, which is one of the biggest fashion companies in the world and whose chairman is the richest person in Sweden , sources a great deal of its clothing from low-wage countries. Though many of its contract factories have been called out for worker abuses  in recent years, it often points out that it is working to improve conditions in the factories making its clothing. It is also part of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), an alliance of brands with the stated mission of improving conditions for workers.

“ETI recognizes that in complex supply chains, issues will inevitably arise,” Peter McAllister, ETI’s executive director, said in a statement. “What’s important is a meaningful and timely response.” The question is whether H&M’s action plan will meet that mark.

This story was updated with comments from H&M.

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Reporting by Helen Reid, Additional reporting by Corina Pons, Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise, Alexandra Hudson and Mark Potter

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London-based reporter covering the European retail sector through a global lens. Focusing on companies including Adidas, H&M, Ikea, and Inditex and analysing corporate strategy, consumer trends, and regulatory changes, Helen also covers major supermarket groups like Ahold Delhaize, Carrefour, and Casino. She has a special interest in sustainability and how investors push for change in companies. Previously based in Johannesburg where she covered the mining industry.

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H&M Accused of Working With Underpaid and Overworked 14-Year-Olds in Myanmar Factories

Fast fashion comes at a cost, as shown by a new book published in Sweden. One of the largest retailers in the world is reportedly guilty of working with preteen employees.

H&M, which has a global presence and is headquartered in the Scandinavian nation, has contracts with two factories in Myanmar that have employed children as young as 14 to work more than 12 hours a day, according to Modeslavar (“fashion slaves” in English). And they make under $3 a day, the lowest minimum wage in the world, reports The Guardian .

“How was your shirt so cheap?” the book’s description asks. “The Western world often talks of the democratization of fashion, how the cheap clothing chain allows everyone to dress fashionably. Recent trends ironed out to customers at a furious pace. Meanwhile, it is reported repeatedly about the clothing industry’s dirty back, where slave factories, deadly poisons, and child labor are part of everyday life. Nothing indicates that it has gotten better. How can this continue?” The authors traveled around Southeast Asia to report back on “the people who pay the real price for our cheap clothes.”

Zu Zu, who started work at the age of 14, told authors Moa Kärnstrand and Tobias Andersson Akerblom that the factories “employed anyone who wanted to work.” The writers claim to have spoken with a handful of 15-year-old girls who were working until 10 p.m. at two factories, Myanmar Century Liaoyuan Knitted Wear and Myanmar Wedge Garment, both near the capital city of Yangon.

These long days are in breach of the laws both of Myanmar and the International Labour Organization, which sets the minimum working age at 14 in countries “where the economy and educational facilities are insufficiently developed,” (although The Guardian notes that the county allows children aged 13 to 15 to do light work, as long as it does not threaten their health, safety, or education).

According to a feature about the book on the Swedish news site Geo , the young girls got the jobs with the help of forged identification cards, because younger workers are only supposed to work four hours a day. However, even adults are only supposed to work eight. “We tried to protest in the summer, because we had been forced to work until 10 p.m. every night that week,” 17-year-old Maw Maw, who works for one of H&M’s factories, told the authors of the book (which we translated from the Swedish). The girls said that when the factory knows they will be inspected, workers under the age of 18 are ordered to take two days off, because inspectors will often look into how old the workers are and how long they work.

A girl named Myat, 17, told the authors she’s been working since she was 11. She says that there are at least four girls under the age of 15 at her production line in the factory.

H&M is only one of the major retailers that has worked with such factories in Myanmar. The book also names British brands like Marks & Spencer, Tesco and Primark, as well as Gap.

H&M is claiming that it has attempted to play by the rules. “When 14- to 18-year-olds are working, it is therefore not a case of child labour, according to international labour laws,” the company said in a statement to The Guardian . “ILO instead stresses the importance of not excluding this age group from work in Myanmar. H&M does of course not tolerate child labour in any form." H&M said it has “taken action” in the past with both factories over “ID-cards and overtime” after being made aware that a group of 14- to 17-year-olds had been working long hours since 2013.

"It is of utmost importance to us that our products are made under good working conditions and with consideration to safety, health, and the environment,” H&M said. “We have therefore taken action regarding two suppliers in Myanmar which have had problems with ID-cards and overtime…any overtime must be in accordance with legislation as well as our own demands, this is particularly important when it comes to the age group 14-18. If a supplier doesn’t live up to our standards or national legislation we — in accordance with our routines — demand that the supplier immediately establishes an action plan, which has been done also in this case. One of the measures concerning the two suppliers in question is improved recruitment routines, which has resulted in improved handling of ID-cards.”

The apparel company added that teenagers’ working long hours at suppliers’ factories was “unacceptable.”

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H&M comes under pressure to act on child-labour cotton

One of Britain's most popular fashion chains is under pressure to sever its links with clothing suppliers that buy cotton from Uzbekistan , where large quantities are harvested using child labour.

H&M, the giant fashion chain which uses football star David Beckham and singer Lana Del Rey in its advertising campaigns, has signed a pledge to "not knowingly" source cotton from the central Asian country in response to concern from human rights groups.

Uzbekistan, one of the world's largest exporters of cotton, forces adults and children as young as nine to pick cotton under what the charity Anti-Slavery International describes as "appalling conditions". However, it is difficult to trace Uzbek cotton back to its source. Much of it ends up in Bangladesh and China. As a result, many fashion chains cannot guarantee that their clothing is free of Uzbek cotton.

H&M, which has almost 200 UK stores and 2,500 worldwide, is now one of several high street names that will be targeted by Anti-Slavery International's cotton campaign , which calls on well-known brands to stop buying clothing from suppliers that source cotton from Uzbekistan. "Unless H&M implements the practical steps set out by the cotton campaign, it is near impossible for us to be confident that H&M's goods are truly free from state-sponsored forced labour," a spokeswoman for the charity said. "By implementing these steps, we can be confident that H&M is doing everything it can to support an end to the use of forced labour."

It is believed that the Uzbekistan government increased the scale of forced labour for this year's harvest, which was worth an estimated $1bn (£619m). Schoolchildren and their teachers, doctors and nurses and many other public sector employees were forced to work in the cotton fields or face fines, the loss of wages or denial of college places. International monitors were banned from observing the harvest.

Human rights groups said students were beaten by public authorities for failing to meet their quotas. In Angren district, parents were told that if they wanted to exempt their children from the harvest they would either have to pay a $110 fee or withdraw their children's application to high school. All government employees are eligible to be sent to pick cotton. A refusal can mean the loss of a job, pay or benefits.

An H&M spokeswoman said it had a policy of prohibiting the use of Uzbek cotton in its products, which is communicated to all suppliers. "While our systems continue to evolve, we aim for all cotton to come from more sustainable, fully traceable sources by 2020 at the latest."

Ikea has been subjected to similar scrutiny from human rights groups. "We do all we can to ensure that Uzbek cotton is not used in our products, but the traceability process for the cotton industry is not robust," said Josefin Thorell, an Ikea spokeswoman. "In the case of, for example, Bangladesh, where much of the cotton used in manufacturing is traditionally from Uzbekistan, Ikea suppliers are required to buy from India."

Concerns about the use of Uzbek cotton have led to questions being asked of Peter Lilley, the former Tory trade secretary who heads the Uzbek-British Trade and Industry Council, which promotes the Uzbek Cotton and Textile Fair. Anti-Slavery International questioned whether the council was in breach of UN and Foreign Office human rights guidelines. In an emailed reply, Lilley said the council followed Foreign Office guidelines and its main role was "to broaden trade and investment between the UK and Uzbekistan", not promote cotton.

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Case Studies

This section includes examples of company actions to address child labour in their operations and supply chains.

Can fashion be fair? Yes!

Here are some of our key initiatives.

Our products are made by over 700 suppliers around the world. Together we’re working to improve wage management systems in order to ensure that everybody’s individual skills are taken into account. Our work on factory level has also resulted in democratically elected worker representatives for over 1.1 million garment workers.

A ban on forced labour and child labour

We take a zero-tolerance approach to both forced labor and child labor. All suppliers working for us must sign and comply with our strict anti-forced-labor and anti-child-labor policies. In 2022, we identified 0 cases of child labor.

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For us, it’s quite simple. We believe all animals deserve just treatment and shouldn’t be objected to suffering. This is why we aim to only source animal-based materials from farms with good animal care, breeding and management. That’s also why we don’t perform beauty tests on any animals, and why we’re exploring ways to replace materials like wool, leather and down with more sustainable alternatives. Fur has been a big no-no from the very start.

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• IKEA Case: One Company’s Fight to End Child Labor
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IKEA Case: One Company’s Fight to End Child Labor

A business ethics case study.

In this business ethics case study, Swedish multinational company IKEA faced accusations relating to child labor abuses in the rug industry in Pakistan which posed a serious challenge for the company and its supply chain management goals.

Empty garage with a highlighted walking path in front of an IKEA.

Photo credit: mastrminda/Pixabay

Yuvraj Rao '23 , a 2022-23 Hackworth Fellow at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics graduated with a marketing major and entrepreneurship minor from Santa Clara University.

Introduction

IKEA is a Swedish multinational company that was founded in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad. [1] The company mainly provides simple, affordable home furniture and furnishings, and it pioneered DIY, or do it yourself, furniture. Kamprad originally sold binders, fountain pens, and cigarette lighters, but eventually expanded to furniture in 1948. According to the Journal of International Management, in 1953, Kamprad offered products that came as “a self assembled furniture” for the lowest price, which ultimately became a key part of IKEA’s value proposition going forward. In 1961, IKEA started to contact furniture factories in Poland to order chairs from a factory in Radomsko. [2] Outsourcing to Poland was mainly due to other Swedish furniture stores pressuring Swedish manufacturers to stop selling to IKEA. In the mid 1960’s, IKEA continued its supplier expansion into Norway, largely because IKEA didn’t want to “own their own line of production,” [3] and Germany due to its ideal location (downtown, suburban area) to place an IKEA store. Given IKEA’s suppliers were now not just in Sweden, it led to an increased importance on developing strong relationships with its suppliers.

In the following decades, IKEA continued its expansion and solidified its identity as a major retail outlet with parts being manufactured around the world. By the mid 90’s, IKEA was the “world’s largest specialized furniture retailer with their GDP reaching $4.5 billion in August of 1994.” [4] It also worked with 2,300 suppliers in 70 different countries, who supplied 11,200 products and had 24 “trading offices in nineteen countries that monitored production, tested product ideas, negotiated products, and checked quality.” [5] IKEA’s dependence on its suppliers ultimately led to problems in the mid 1990’s. At this time, IKEA was the largest furniture retailer in the world, and had nearly “100 stores in 17 countries.” [6] Also during this time, a Swedish documentary was released that highlighted the use of child labor in the rug industry in Pakistan, which impacted IKEA given it had production there. The rug industry in particular is extremely labor intensive and is one of the largest “export earners for India, Pakistan, Nepal and Morocco.” Here, children are forced to work long hours for very little pay (if there is any pay at all). In some cases, their wages are only enough to pay for food and lodging. In cases where children are not paid, the wages are used by the loom owner to pay the parents and agents who brought the children to the factories. Additionally, the work the children must do comes with a lot of risk. More specifically, children face risks of diminishing eyesight and damaged lungs from “the dust and fluff from the wool used in the carpets.” [7] As a result of these working conditions, many of these children are very sick when they grow up. Despite these terrible conditions, it isn’t that simple for families not to send children to work at these factories. A lot of the parents can’t afford food, water, education, or healthcare, so they are often left with no choice but to send their children to work for an additional source of income. [8]

 IKEA and Child Labor Accusations

The accusations of child labor in the rug industry in Pakistan posed a serious challenge for IKEA and its supply chain management goals. It would need to address the serious issues of alleged injustice for the sake of its reputation and brand image. Additionally, as IKEA also had suppliers in India, it would need to be in compliance with India’s “landmark legislation act against child labor, the Child Labor (Prohibition and Regulation) Act of 1986.” [9]

As a result of these accusations, IKEA ultimately ended its contracts with Pakistani rug manufacturers, but the problem of child labor in its supply chain still persisted in other countries that were supplying IKEA. Marianne Barner, the business area manager for rugs for IKEA at the time, stated that the film was a “real eye-opener…I myself had spent a couple of months in India for some supply chain training, but child labor was never mentioned.” [10] She also added that a key issue was that IKEA’s “buyers met suppliers at offices in the cities and rarely visited the actual production sites.” [11] The lack of visits to the actual production sites made it difficult for IKEA to identify the issue of child labor in these countries.

To make matters worse, in 1995, a German film “showed pictures of children working at an Indian rug supplier... ‘There was no doubt that they were rugs for IKEA,’ says business area manager for textiles at the time, Göran Ydstrand.” [12] In response to these accusations, Barner and her team went to talk to suppliers in Nepal, Bangladesh, and India. They also conducted surprise raids on rug factories and confirmed that there was child labor in these factories. The issue of child labor, along with the accusations of having formaldehyde (a harmful chemical) in IKEA’s best selling BILLY bookcases and the discovery of unsafe working conditions for adults (such as dipping hands in petrol without gloves), led to increased costs and a significantly damaged reputation for the company.

It was later discovered that the German film released in 1995 was fake, and the renowned German journalist who was responsible for this film was involved in “several fake reports about different subjects and companies.” [13] IKEA was now left with three options. First, some members of IKEA management wanted to permanently shut down production of their rugs in South Asia. Another option was to do nothing and proceed with its existing practices now that it was announced that the film was fake. The third option was that the company could attempt to tackle the issue of child labor that was clearly evident in its supply chain, regardless of whether the film was fake or not. IKEA ultimately decided to opt for the third option, and its recent discoveries would eventually help guide the policies the company implemented to address these issues, particularly child labor in India.

Steps Taken to Address Child Labor in the Supply Chain

IKEA took multiple steps to deal with its damaged reputation and issues of child labor in its supply chain. One way in which it did this was through institutional partnerships. One such partnership was with Save the Children, which began in 1994. According to Save the Children’s website, one of the main goals of their partnership is to realize children's “rights to a healthy and secure childhood, which includes a quality education. By listening to and learning from children, we develop long-term projects that empower communities to create a better everyday life for children.” [14] Furthermore, the partnership is intended to “drive sustainable business operations across the entire value chain.” [15] Together, IKEA and Save the Children are focused on addressing the main causes of child labor in India’s cotton-growing areas. [16] Save the Children also advised IKEA to bring in an independent consultant to ensure that suppliers were in compliance with their agreements, which further improved IKEA’s practices in its supply chain. IKEA also partnered with UNICEF to combat child labor in its supply chain. According to the IKEA Foundation, in 2014, IKEA provided UNICEF with six new grants totaling €24.9 million with a focus “on reaching the most marginalized and disadvantaged children living in poor communities and in strengthening UNICEF’s response in emergency and conflict situations.” Additionally, five of the six grants were given to help programs in “Afghanistan, China, India, Pakistan, and Rwanda,” with a “focus on early childhood development, child protection, education, and helping adolescents to improve their lives and strengthen their communities.” [17]

Next, IKEA and Save the Children worked together to develop IWAY, which was launched in 2000. [18] IWAY is the IKEA code of conduct for suppliers. According to the IKEA website, “IWAY is the IKEA way of responsibly sourcing products, services, materials and components. It sets clear expectations and ways of working for environmental, social and working conditions, as well as animal welfare, and is mandatory for all suppliers and service providers that work with IKEA.” [19] In addition, IWAY is meant to have an impact in the following four areas: “promoting positive impacts on the environment,” “securing decent and meaningful work for workers,” “respecting children’s rights”, and “improving the welfare of animals in the IKEA value chain.” [20] IWAY is used as a foundation to collaborate with IKEA’s suppliers and sub-contractors to ensure supply chain transparency.

As mentioned previously, one of the main goals of IKEA’s partnership with Save the Children was to address child labor in India’s cotton-growing areas. To do this, IKEA and Save the Children developed a program that would ultimately help more than 1,800 villages between 2009 and 2014. More specifically, the program moved nearly 150,000 children out of child labor and into classrooms. Also, as a result of this program, more than 10,000 migrant children “moved back into their home communities.” [21] Last but not least, the program trained almost 2,000 teachers and 1,866 Anganwadi workers (whose duties include teaching students and educating villagers on healthcare [22] ) in order to provide each village with a community leader. This was to ensure that the community had a skilled leader to assist in educating the villagers. In 2012, the IKEA Foundation and Save the Children announced that they would expand with new programs in Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan. This joint program illustrates IKEA’s commitment to improving communities in addition to helping children go to school.

Conclusion & Looking Ahead

IKEA has taken numerous steps to ensure that suppliers abide by the IWAY Code of Conduct. Companies around the world can learn from the policies IKEA has put in place to ensure that each company has control and complete oversight over their supply chains, which can lead to a more transparent and ethical supply chain. According to The IKEA WAY on Purchasing Products, Materials and Services, one way in which IKEA does this is by requiring all suppliers to share the content of the code to all co-workers and sub-suppliers, thus leading to more accountability among the company's suppliers. IKEA also believes in the importance of long term relationships with its suppliers. Therefore, if for some reason, a supplier is not meeting the standards set forth by the code, IKEA will continue to work with the supplier if the supplier shows a willingness to improve its practices with actionable steps to complete before a specified period of time. [23]

Additionally, during the IWAY implementation process, IKEA monitors its suppliers and service providers. To do this, IKEA has a team of auditors who conduct audits (both announced and unannounced) at supplier facilities. The auditors are also in charge of following up on action plans if suppliers are failing to meet the agreed upon standards specified by IWAY. Along with this, “IKEA…has the Compliance and Monitoring Group, an internal independent group that is responsible for independent verification of implementation and compliance activities related to IWAY and Sustainability.” [24] IKEA also has independent third party teams who conduct inspections on behalf of IKEA. [25] By conducting audits and putting together teams to ensure cooperation from suppliers throughout the supply chain, companies can be better equipped to prevent unethical practices in the production of goods and services. In Ximeng Han’s Analysis and Reflection of IKEA’s Supply Chain Management, Han highlights IWAY’s importance in maintaining links with IKEA’s suppliers. [26] Therefore, IWAY plays a crucial role in ensuring supply chain transparency and in building a more ethical and sustainable supply chain.

In addition to all of the policies IKEA has put in place to address issues in its supply chain, the company has also donated a lot of money to combat child labor in India. More specifically, according to an IKEA Foundation article written in 2013, “Since 2000, the IKEA Foundation has committed €60 million to help fight child labour in India and Pakistan, aiming to prevent children from working in the cotton, metalware and carpet industries.” [27] Furthermore, in 2009, the company announced that it would donate $48 million to UNICEF to “help poor children in India.” [28]

IKEA’s goal to completely eliminate child labor from its supply chain is an ongoing battle, and it is still committed to ensuring that this is ultimately the case. More specifically, it is extremely difficult to completely eliminate child labor from a company’s supply chain because of the various aspects involved. According to a report published in 2018 by the International Labour Organization, these aspects include a legal commitment, building and “extending” social protection systems (including helping people find jobs), “expanding access to free, quality public education,” addressing supply chain issues, and providing more protection for children in general. [29] Furthermore, Han points out the potential downsides that could arise as a result of having a global supply chain like IKEA does. Given IKEA is an international retailer, the company “has to spend a lot of time, money and manpower to enter new markets due to the different cultures, laws and competitive markets in different regions, and there is also a significant risk of zero return.” [30] Han also argues that the COVID-19 pandemic showed IKEA’s and many other companies’ inability to respond to “fluctuations in supply and demand,” primarily due to inflexible supply chains. [31] This information points out the various aspects that need to align in order to completely end the issue of child labor throughout the world, as well as the difficulties of having a global supply chain, which is why child labor is so difficult to completely eliminate.

Specific to IKEA’s actions, in 2021, IKEA announced three key focus areas for its action pledge: “Further integrating children’s rights into the existing IKEA due diligence system (by reviewing IWAY from a child rights’ perspective in order to strengthen the code),” “accelerating the work to promote decent work for young workers,” and partnering “up to increase and scale efforts.” [32] IKEA’s fight to end child labor in India highlights the importance of supply chain transparency and putting policies in place that ensures cooperation from suppliers and all parties involved. Additionally, in a Forbes article written in 2021, “According to the data from the OpenText survey…When asked whether purchasing ethically sourced and/or produced products matters, 81 percent of respondents said yes.” [33] Steve Banker, who covers logistics and supply chain management, also adds, “What is interesting is that nearly 20 percent of these survey respondents said that it has only mattered to them within the last year, which indicates that the Covid pandemic, and some of the product shortages we have faced, has made consumers re-evaluate their stance on ethical sourcing.” [34] These results confirm that customers are now considering how a product was sourced in their purchasing decisions, which makes it even more important for IKEA to be transparent about its efforts to eliminate child labor from its supply chain. Furthermore, the company’s open commitment to eliminating child labor and helping communities in India is beneficial in maintaining a positive relationship with its stakeholders.

The increase in globalization has made it even more essential for companies to monitor their supply chains and have complete oversight over business practices. IKEA is one of the companies leading the way in building a more ethical and sustainable supply chain, but more companies need to follow suit and implement policies similar to IWAY that holds all parties in the supply chain accountable for their actions. Through supply chain transparency and accountability, companies will likely be better equipped to handle issues that arise throughout their respective supply chains. Furthermore, by implementing new policies, conducting audits, and maintaining close communication with suppliers, companies can work to eliminate child labor in their supply chains and put children where they belong: in school.

Reflection Questions:

• What does this case teach you about supply chain ethics?
• What are some of the ways in which management/leaders can ensure compliance of the standards set forth by a company in terms of supplier behavior and ethical sourcing?
• Who is primarily responsible for ensuring ethical behavior throughout the supply chain? Is it the company? The suppliers? Both?
• How can companies utilize the various platforms and technologies that exist today to better understand and oversee their supply chains? 
• IKEA has taken numerous steps to address child labor in its supply chain. Do you think every business working in a context that may involve child labor has a duty to act in a similar way? Why or why not?

Works Cited 

“ About Ikea – Our Heritage .” IKEA.

“Anganwadi Workers.” Journals Of India , 16 June 2020. 

Banker, Steve. “ Do Consumers Care about Ethical Sourcing? ” Forbes , 9 Nov. 2022.

Bharadwaj , Prashant, et al. Perverse Consequences of Well-Intentioned Regulation ... - World Bank Group .

“ Child Labor in the Carpet Industry Rugmark: Carpets: Rugs: Pakistan .” Child Labor in the Carpet Industry RugMark |Carpets | Rugs | Pakistan .

“ Creating a Sustainable IKEA Value Chain with Iway. ” Sustainability Is Key in Our Supplier Code of Conduct .

“ Ending Child Labour by 2025 - International Labour Organization .” International Labour Organization .

“ Film on Child Labour Is Eye-Opener for IKEA .” IKEA Museum , 31 Mar. 2022.

Foundation , ECLT. “ Why Does Child Labour Happen? Here Are Some of the Root Causes. ” ECLT Foundation , 17 May 2023.

Han, Ximeng. “ Analysis and Reflection of IKEA’s Supply Chain Management. ” Analysis and Reflection of IKEA’s Supply Chain Management | Atlantis Press , 27 Dec. 2022.

“ Human Rights and Global Sourcing: IKEA in India. ” Journal of International Management , 13 May 2011.

“ IKEA and IKEA Foundation .” Save the Children International .

“ IKEA Foundation Contributes €24.9 Million to UNICEF to Help Advance Children’s Rights. ” IKEA Foundation , 26 May 2020.

“ IKEA Foundation Helps Fight the Roots Causes of Child Labour in Pakistan .” IKEA Foundation , 18 Feb. 2013.

“ Ikea Gives $48 Million to Fight India Child Labor .” NBC News , 23 Feb. 2009.

“ IKEA Supports 2021 as the UN International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour. ” About IKEA.

The Ikea Way on Purchasing Products , Materials and Services .

Jasińska, Joanna, et al. “ Flat-Pack Success: IKEA Turns to Poland for Its Furniture. ” – The First News .

Thomas , Susan. “ IKEA Foundation Tackles Child Labor in India’s Cotton Communities .” Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship , 15 July 2014.

[1] “About Ikea – Our Heritage.” IKEA .

[2] Jasińska, Joanna, et al. “Flat-Pack Success: IKEA Turns to Poland for Its Furniture.” – The First News .

[3] “Human Rights and Global Sourcing: IKEA in India.” Journal of International Management , 13 May 2011.

[4] “Human Rights and Global Sourcing: IKEA in India.” Journal of International Management , 13 May 2011.

[5] “Human Rights and Global Sourcing: IKEA in India.” Journal of International Management , 13 May 2011.

[6] “Film on Child Labour Is Eye-Opener for IKEA.” IKEA Museum , 31 Mar. 2022.

[7] “Child Labor in the Carpet Industry Rugmark: Carpets: Rugs: Pakistan.” Child Labor in the Carpet Industry RugMark |Carpets | Rugs | Pakistan .

[8] Foundation , ECLT. “Why Does Child Labour Happen? Here Are Some of the Root Causes.” ECLT Foundation , 17 May 2023.

[9] Bharadwaj , Prashant, et al. Perverse Consequences of Well-Intentioned Regulation ... - World Bank Group .

[10] “Film on Child Labour Is Eye-Opener for IKEA.” IKEA Museum , 31 Mar. 2022.

[11] “Film on Child Labour Is Eye-Opener for IKEA.” IKEA Museum , 31 Mar. 2022.

[12] “Film on Child Labour Is Eye-Opener for IKEA.” IKEA Museum , 31 Mar. 2022.

[13] “Film on Child Labour Is Eye-Opener for IKEA.” IKEA Museum , 31 Mar. 2022.

[14] “IKEA and IKEA Foundation.” Save the Children International .

[15] “IKEA and IKEA Foundation.” Save the Children International .

[16] “IKEA and IKEA Foundation.” Save the Children International .

[17] “IKEA Foundation Contributes €24.9 Million to UNICEF to Help Advance Children’s Rights.” IKEA Foundation , 26 May 2020.

[18] “IKEA and IKEA Foundation.” Save the Children International .

[19] “Creating a Sustainable IKEA Value Chain with Iway.” Sustainability Is Key in Our Supplier Code of Conduct .

[20] “Creating a Sustainable IKEA Value Chain with Iway.” Sustainability Is Key in Our Supplier Code of Conduct .

[21] Thomas, Susan. “IKEA Foundation Tackles Child Labor in India’s Cotton Communities.” Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship , 15 July 2014.

[22] “Anganwadi Workers.” Journals Of India , 16 June 2020.

[23] The Ikea Way on Purchasing Products, Materials and Services .

[24] The Ikea Way on Purchasing Products, Materials and Services .

[25] The Ikea Way on Purchasing Products, Materials and Services .

[26] Han, Ximeng. “Analysis and Reflection of IKEA’s Supply Chain Management.” Analysis and Reflection of IKEA’s Supply Chain Management | Atlantis Press , 27 Dec. 2022.

[27] “IKEA Foundation Helps Fight the Roots Causes of Child Labour in Pakistan.” IKEA Foundation , 18 Feb. 2013.

[28] “Ikea Gives $48 Million to Fight India Child Labor.” NBC News , 23 Feb. 2009.

[29] “Ending Child Labour by 2025 - International Labour Organization.” International Labour Organization .

[30] Han, Ximeng. “Analysis and Reflection of IKEA’s Supply Chain Management.” Analysis and Reflection of IKEA’s Supply Chain Management | Atlantis Press , 27 Dec. 2022.

[31] Han, Ximeng. “Analysis and Reflection of IKEA’s Supply Chain Management.” Analysis and Reflection of IKEA’s Supply Chain Management | Atlantis Press , 27 Dec. 2022.

[32] “IKEA Supports 2021 as the UN International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour.” About IKEA .

[33] Banker, Steve. “Do Consumers Care about Ethical Sourcing?” Forbes , 9 Nov. 2022.

[34] Banker, Steve. “Do Consumers Care about Ethical Sourcing?” Forbes , 9 Nov. 2022.

Henry Gustav Molaison: The Curious Case of Patient H.M. 

Erin Heaning

Clinical Safety Strategist at Bristol Myers Squibb

Psychology Graduate, Princeton University

Erin Heaning, a holder of a BA (Hons) in Psychology from Princeton University, has experienced as a research assistant at the Princeton Baby Lab.

Learn about our Editorial Process

Saul Mcleod, PhD

Editor-in-Chief for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester

Saul Mcleod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc

Associate Editor for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Psychology of Education

Olivia Guy-Evans is a writer and associate editor for Simply Psychology. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors.

On This Page:

Henry Gustav Molaison, known as Patient H.M., is a landmark case study in psychology. After a surgery to alleviate severe epilepsy, which removed large portions of his hippocampus , he was left with anterograde amnesia , unable to form new explicit memories , thus offering crucial insights into the role of the hippocampus in memory formation.

• Henry Gustav Molaison (often referred to as H.M.) is a famous case of anterograde and retrograde amnesia in psychology.
• H. M. underwent brain surgery to remove his hippocampus and amygdala to control his seizures. As a result of his surgery, H.M.’s seizures decreased, but he could no longer form new memories or remember the prior 11 years of his life.
• He lost his ability to form many types of new memories (anterograde amnesia), such as new facts or faces, and the surgery also caused retrograde amnesia as he was able to recall childhood events but lost the ability to recall experiences a few years before his surgery.
• The case of H.M. and his life-long participation in studies gave researchers valuable insight into how memory functions and is organized in the brain. He is considered one of the most studied medical and psychological history cases.

Who is H.M.?

Henry Gustav Molaison, or “H.M” as he is commonly referred to by psychology and neuroscience textbooks, lost his memory on an operating table in 1953.

For years before his neurosurgery, H.M. suffered from epileptic seizures believed to be caused by a bicycle accident that occurred in his childhood. The seizures started out as minor at age ten, but they developed in severity when H.M. was a teenager.

Continuing to worsen in severity throughout his young adulthood, H.M. was eventually too disabled to work. Throughout this period, treatments continued to turn out unsuccessful, and epilepsy proved a major handicap and strain on H.M.’s quality of life.

And so, at age 27, H.M. agreed to undergo a radical surgery that would involve removing a part of his brain called the hippocampus — the region believed to be the source of his epileptic seizures (Squire, 2009).

For epilepsy patients, brain resection surgery refers to removing small portions of brain tissue responsible for causing seizures. Although resection is still a surgical procedure used today to treat epilepsy, the use of lasers and detailed brain scans help ensure valuable brain regions are not impacted.

In 1953, H.M.’s neurosurgeon did not have these tools, nor was he or the rest of the scientific or medical community fully aware of the true function of the hippocampus and its specific role in memory. In one regard, the surgery was successful, as H.M. did, in fact, experience fewer seizures.

However, family and doctors soon noticed he also suffered from severe amnesia, which persisted well past when he should have recovered. In addition to struggling to remember the years leading up to his surgery, H.M. also had gaps in his memory of the 11 years prior.

Furthermore, he lacked the ability to form new memories — causing him to perpetually live an existence of moment-to-moment forgetfulness for decades to come.

In one famous quote, he famously and somberly described his state as “like waking from a dream…. every day is alone in itself” (Squire et al., 2009).

H.M. soon became a major case study of interest for psychologists and neuroscientists who studied his memory deficits and cognitive abilities to better understand the hippocampus and its function.

When H.M. died on December 2, 2008, at the age of 82, he left behind a lifelong legacy of scientific contribution.

Surgical Procedure

Neurosurgeon William Beecher Scoville performed H.M.’s surgery in Hartford, Connecticut, in August 1953 when H.M. was 27 years old.

During the procedure, Scoville removed parts of H.M.’s temporal lobe which refers to the portion of the brain that sits behind both ears and is associated with auditory and memory processing.

More specifically, the surgery involved what was called a “partial medial temporal lobe resection” (Scoville & Milner, 1957). In this resection, Scoville removed 8 cm of brain tissue from the hippocampus — a seahorse-shaped structure located deep in the temporal lobe .

Bilateral resection of the anterior temporal lobe in patient HM.

Further research conducted after this removal showed Scoville also probably destroyed the brain structures known as the “uncus” (theorized to play a role in the sense of smell and forming new memories) and the “amygdala” (theorized to play a crucial role in controlling our emotional responses such as fear and sadness).

As previously mentioned, the removal surgery partially reduced H.M.’s seizures; however, he also lost the ability to form new memories.

At the time, Scoville’s experimental procedure had previously only been performed on patients with psychosis, so H.M. was the first epileptic patient and showed no sign of mental illness. In the original case study of H.M., which is discussed in further detail below, nine of Scoville’s patients from this experimental surgery were described.

However, because these patients had disorders such as schizophrenia, their symptoms were not removed after surgery.

In this regard, H.M. was the only patient with “clean” amnesia along with no other apparent mental problems.

H.M’s Amnesia

H.M.’s apparent amnesia after waking from surgery presented in multiple forms. For starters, H.M. suffered from retrograde amnesia for the 11-year period prior to his surgery.

Retrograde describes amnesia, where you can’t recall memories that were formed before the event that caused the amnesia. Important to note, current research theorizes that H.M.’s retrograde amnesia was not actually caused by the loss of his hippocampus, but rather from a combination of antiepileptic drugs and frequent seizures prior to his surgery (Shrader 2012).

In contrast, H.M.’s inability to form new memories after his operation, known as anterograde amnesia, was the result of the loss of the hippocampus.

This meant that H.M. could not learn new words, facts, or faces after his surgery, and he would even forget who he was talking to the moment he walked away.

However, H.M. could perform tasks, and he could even perform those tasks easier after practice. This important finding represented a major scientific discovery when it comes to memory and the hippocampus. The memory that H.M. was missing in his life included the recall of facts, life events, and other experiences.

This type of long-term memory is referred to as “explicit” or “ declarative ” memories and they require conscious thinking.

In contrast, H.M.’s ability to improve in tasks after practice (even if he didn’t recall that practice) showed his “implicit” or “ procedural ” memory remained intact (Scoville & Milner, 1957). This type of long-term memory is unconscious, and examples include riding a bike, brushing your teeth, or typing on a keyboard.

Most importantly, after removing his hippocampus, H.M. lost his explicit memory but not his implicit memory — establishing that implicit memory must be controlled by some other area of the brain and not the hippocampus.

After the severity of the side effects of H.M.’s operation became clear, H.M. was referred to neurosurgeon Dr. Wilder Penfield and neuropsychologist Dr. Brenda Milner of Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) for further testing.

As discussed, H.M. was not the only patient who underwent this experimental surgery, but he was the only non-psychotic patient with such a degree of memory impairment. As a result, he became a major study and interest for Milner and the rest of the scientific community.

Since Penfield and Milner had already been conducting memory experiments on other patients at the time, they quickly realized H.M.’s “dense amnesia, intact intelligence, and precise neurosurgical lesions made him a perfect experimental subject” (Shrader 2012).

Milner continued to conduct cognitive testing on H.M. for the next fifty years, primarily at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Her longitudinal case study of H.M.’s amnesia quickly became a sensation and is still one of the most widely-cited psychology studies.

In publishing her work, she protected Henry’s identity by first referring to him as the patient H.M. (Shrader 2012).

In the famous “star tracing task,” Milner tested if H.M.’s procedural memory was affected by the removal of the hippocampus during surgery.

In this task, H.M. had to trace an outline of a star, but he could only trace the star based on the mirrored reflection. H.M. then repeated this task once a day over a period of multiple days.

Over the course of these multiple days, Milner observed that H.M. performed the test faster and with fewer errors after continued practice. Although each time he performed the task, he had no memory of having participated in the task before, his performance improved immensely (Shrader 2012).

As this task showed, H.M. had lost his declarative/explicit memory, but his unconscious procedural/implicit memory remained intact.

Given the damage to his hippocampus in surgery, researchers concluded from tasks such as these that the hippocampus must play a role in declarative but not procedural memory.

Therefore, procedural memory must be localized somewhere else in the brain and not in the hippocampus.

H.M’s Legacy

Milner’s and hundreds of other researchers’ work with H.M. established fundamental principles about how memory functions and is organized in the brain.

Without the contribution of H.M. in volunteering the study of his mind to science, our knowledge today regarding the separation of memory function in the brain would certainly not be as strong.

Until H.M.’s watershed surgery, it was not known that the hippocampus was essential for making memories and that if we lost this valuable part of our brain, we would be forced to live only in the moment-to-moment constraints of our short-term memory .

Once this was realized, the findings regarding H.M. were widely publicized so that this operation to remove the hippocampus would never be done again (Shrader 2012).

H.M.’s case study represents a historical time period for neuroscience in which most brain research and findings were the result of brain dissections, lesioning certain sections, and seeing how different experimental procedures impacted different patients.

Therefore, it is paramount we recognize the contribution of patients like H.M., who underwent these dangerous operations in the mid-twentieth century and then went on to allow researchers to study them for the rest of their lives.

Even after his death, H.M. donated his brain to science. Researchers then took his unique brain, froze it, and then in a 53-hour procedure, sliced it into 2,401 slices which were then individually photographed and digitized as a three-dimensional map.

Through this map, H.M.’s brain could be preserved for posterity (Wb et al., 2014). As neuroscience researcher Suzanne Corkin once said it best, “H.M. was a pleasant, engaging, docile man with a keen sense of humor, who knew he had a poor memory but accepted his fate.

There was a man behind the data. Henry often told me that he hoped that research into his condition would help others live better lives. He would have been proud to know how much his tragedy has benefitted science and medicine” (Corkin, 2014).

Corkin, S. (2014). Permanent present tense: The man with no memory and what he taught the world. Penguin Books.

Hardt, O., Einarsson, E. Ö., & Nader, K. (2010). A bridge over troubled water: Reconsolidation as a link between cognitive and neuroscientific memory research traditions. Annual Review of Psychology, 61, 141–167.

Scoville, W. B., & Milner, B. (1957). Loss of recent memory after bilateral hippocampal lesions . Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry, 20 (1), 11.

Shrader, J. (2012, January). HM, the man with no memory | Psychology Today. Retrieved from, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/trouble-in-mind/201201/hm-the-man-no-memory

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Feds Sue Hyundai, Alleging 'Oppressive Child Labor' In Alabama Supply Chain

Labor Reporter, HuffPost

The U.S. Labor Department on Thursday filed a lawsuit against Hyundai, accusing the auto manufacturer of “oppressive child labor” in its Alabama supply chain.

The complaint alleges that a 13-year-old worked up to 50-60 hours a week on the assembly line of a Hyundai supplier in the city of Luverne. The factory there produces parts, including body panels, that go onto SUVs built at Hyundai’s plant an hour away in Montgomery.

Officials say an unspecified number of other minors also worked at the supplier, Smart Alabama. Hyundai announced last year that it was divesting its ownership in Smart after Reuters published an investigation into child labor at the factory.

“The Labor Department says it documented 5,800 children illegally employed during the most recent fiscal year, an 88% increase since 2019.”

The children who worked at the Smart plant were hired by a staffing company, according to the complaint. But the Labor Department argues that Hyundai is ultimately responsible for any violations since the Smart facility “existed at ... [Hyundai’s] discretion.”

“Nearly all, if not the entirety, of the component parts that SMART manufactured during the relevant period were shipped to ... [Hyundai] in Montgomery, Alabama,” the lawsuit states. That facility produces the automaker’s Tucson and Santa Fe models.

The Labor Department also sued Smart and the staffing company, Best Practice Service. Officials are asking that a judge issue an order “permanently enjoining” the companies from employing children, and requiring them to “disgorge all profits related to their use of oppressive child labor.”

Hyundai released a statement through a spokesperson saying that it “worked over many months to thoroughly investigate this issue and took immediate and extensive remedial measures.” The company argued that there was “no legal basis” to hold it responsible for a supplier’s alleged violations, and said it would defend itself in court.

“Unfortunately, the Labor Department is seeking to apply an unprecedented legal theory that would unfairly hold Hyundai accountable for the actions of its suppliers and set a concerning precedent for other automotive companies and manufacturers,” Hyundai said.

U.S. officials have said that they are facing an increase in child labor cases, often involving migrant kids who fled Latin American countries and were hired onto the U.S. workforce. Last year, The New York Times reported a series of stories about migrant children working dangerous jobs in meatpacking and roofing.

The Labor Department says it documented 5,800 children illegally employed during the most recent fiscal year, an 88% increase since 2019.

The complaint against Hyundai alleges that the 13-year-old girl worked for a period of six to seven months at the factory when she should have been attending middle school.

Jessica Looman, the head of the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division, said in a statement that the case “shocks the conscience.”

“As we work to stop illegal child labor where we find it, we also continue to ensure that all employers are held accountable for violating the law,” Looman said.

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• Moses Kwadzo, James Kofi Annan. Effects of Child Labor on Academic Outcomes: A Case Study of Child Labor among Junior High School Students in the Fishing Community of Elmina in the Central Region of Ghana. Journal of Business and Management Sciences . Vol. 10, No. 3, 2022, pp 124-130. https://pubs.sciepub.com/jbms/10/3/3 ">Normal Style
• Kwadzo, Moses, and James Kofi Annan. 'Effects of Child Labor on Academic Outcomes: A Case Study of Child Labor among Junior High School Students in the Fishing Community of Elmina in the Central Region of Ghana.' Journal of Business and Management Sciences 10.3 (2022): 124-130. ">MLA Style
• Kwadzo, M. , & Annan, J. K. (2022). Effects of Child Labor on Academic Outcomes: A Case Study of Child Labor among Junior High School Students in the Fishing Community of Elmina in the Central Region of Ghana. Journal of Business and Management Sciences , 10 (3), 124-130. ">APA Style
• Kwadzo, Moses, and James Kofi Annan. 'Effects of Child Labor on Academic Outcomes: A Case Study of Child Labor among Junior High School Students in the Fishing Community of Elmina in the Central Region of Ghana.' Journal of Business and Management Sciences 10, no. 3 (2022): 124-130. ">Chicago Style

Effects of Child Labor on Academic Outcomes: A Case Study of Child Labor among Junior High School Students in the Fishing Community of Elmina in the Central Region of Ghana

Several concerns have been raised about child labor use in the fishery sector of Ghana. While some have argued that child labor should be abolished because it endangers the lives of children, others maintain that the use of children in agricultural work promotes their socioeconomic development. This study sought to assess the nature of child labor in Ghana and examine its effects on the academic outcomes of students in junior high schools in the Elmina community in the Central Region in Ghana. A total of 242 students from two junior high schools in the Elmina fishing community completed questionnaires for the study. The questionnaire results were analyzed using descriptive statistics and independent-sample t -tests. The findings revealed that 104 of the 242 students were involved in various fishery activities, including sorting, selling, dressing, and smoking of fish. The students were found to be working 12.3 hours per week and 3.3 days per week on average. Contrary to expectations, the independent-sample t -tests showed no statistically significant difference in aggregate examination mean scores for students involved in and students not involved in fishery activities. This observation could be attributed to the fact that the majority of the students involved in fishery activities engaged mainly in fishery activities that can be described as child work rather than child labor. This study recommends that households engaged in fishing consider limiting their children to light and regular fishing activities if the need arises to engage them, to avoid distraction from their education.

1. Introduction

Child labor is a complex phenomenon in developing countries. While some have argued that the use of children in agricultural work is part of their socioeconomic development, others are of the view that child labor cannot be a substitute for child work 1 , 2 . The UNICEF 3 convention tolerates child work but it does not promote child labor of all forms. The kind of child labor children engage in differs depending on the culture of a country or community and the socioeconomic conditions 4 . According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), child labor is work that deprives children of their childhood potential and dignity and that is harmful to their physical and mental development 5 . The ILO 6 reported that in 2016, ten percent of children (152 million) aged 5 to 17 around the world were involved in some form of labor and that 73 million were engaged in hazardous child labor. Approximately 70.9% worked in agriculture, 17.2% worked in services, and 11.9% worked in industry. For children aged 5-14 years involved in some form of labor, 32.0% did not attend school, and the other 68% divided their time between working and studying. Buonomo 7 and the ILO 5 observed that the agriculture, fishing, and artisanal mining sectors are the largest employers of child labor. Adeborna and Johnson 8 observed that child labor is most prevalent in the informal small- and medium-scale operations of capture fisheries, aquaculture and post-harvest fish activities. Small-scale fisheries provide over 90 percent of the 120 million livelihoods derived from fisheries and support more than 500 million people. In the fishery sector, children are engaged in activities such as harvesting and farming of fish in capture fishing and aquaculture 8 .

Ghana is one of the countries with the world’s largest proportions of working children. In Ghana, 21.8% of children 5-17 years old are engaged in child labor, and more than 14.2% are involved in hazardous forms of child labor 9 . Child labor in Ghana is deep-rooted in the fishing industry, with the majority of child labor carried out in family enterprises and mostly within the family home, in the form of housework or as non-remunerated work 8 . Child labor has been found to compromise the health and personal development of children. Several studies have showed that children who engage in child labor do not perform well in school. Le and Homel 10 noted that children who engage in child labor do not perform well in school because it affects their concentration in class. It also leaves them with less time for schooling and for engaging in leisure activities 11 .

In contrast, Afenyadu 4 and Heady 12 contended that not all child work is dangerous to children’s mental well-being. Many families within the coastal fishing communities along the coast of Ghana encourage their children’s involvement in their family fishery businesses as a sociocultural practice to preserve family business for the future and to ensure the survival of family members. Elmina is a major coastal fishing community in the Central Region of Ghana. The Elmina fishing harbor is the third largest fish landing site in Ghana and contributes approximately 15% of the country's total fish output 13 . Approximately 75% of the population of Elmina, including children, is involved in fishing and related fishing activities, such as processing and trading of fish, for their livelihood 13 . Although UNICEF’s convention allows the use of child work, it discourages the use of child labor of all forms. While children within the Elmina fishing community engage in fishery activities, this kind of child labor can adversely affect the educational development of the children in Elmina. The authors raise the question: what is the nature of the fishery activities in which these children are engaged? This study sought to identity the nature of the child labor in Elmina and examine its effects on the academic outcomes for children in the junior high schools in the Elmina community in the Central Region of Ghana. It was hypothesized that there was no significant difference in academic outcomes between students who were involved and those who were not involved in fishery activities.

2. Literature Review

Child labor is a complex phenomenon that requires examination from social, economic, and cultural perspectives. The current study considered the theoretical orientation of child labor from an ecological systems perspective, which views the environment as being made of systems or factors (economic, social, and culture) that are interactive and interwoven in nature Psycholo gist, 32 (7), 513-531." class="coltj"> 14 , Aggression and Violent Behavior, 26 , 35-45." class="coltj"> 15 . Economic factors are related to resources such as family income and the jobs and education of parents. Social factors are related to structural characteristics such family size and the availability of educational resources. Cultural factors are related to social values and norms regarding child labor.

From an economic perspective, variables that relate to child labor supply are household poverty status, family low income, parental unemployment, and other family economic shocks. According to Basu and Van 16 , family poverty may be the primary reason for why children engage in labor. While there are laws prohibiting child labor, many children are compelled to work to help their families survive. Parental stress and a lack of parental social support may force children to work to support households in the absence of social assistance schemes 17 . A child’s labor contribution could be used as an asset for smooth consumption for the family. Child labor serves as a shock absorber to ease the impact of possible parental job loss, failed harvests, and other shocks to the family's income stream.

Social factors that may provoke child participation in the labor market include illiteracy and ignorance of poor parents, household size, family type, and culture norms that emphasize the tradition of making children learn the family’s entrepreneurial skills Introductory rural sociology: a synopsis of concepts and principles . New York: Wiley Eastern Limited." class="coltj"> 18 , 19 . The educational status of the parents is an important social factor related to child labor. The more education parents (particularly the household’s head) have, the less likely they are to let their children work. In general, single-parent families seems to be closely linked with a high prevalence of child labor. Some studies have also demonstrated a relationship between household size and the prevalence of child labor among poor families in developing countries. A culture of any society is shared and preserved from one generation to the next through a process of teaching and learning the various elements of the culture Introductory rural sociology: a synopsis of concepts and principles . New York: Wiley Eastern Limited." class="coltj"> 18 , 19 . To preserve their culture and endeavor to overcome endemic poverty, fishing entrepreneurs often insist that at least one of their children familiarize themselves with the practice and management of their fishing business to be able to inherit their parents’ assets and thereby take over and sustain the family business in future 8 . In doing so, child labor in fishing and fish processing become the sociocultural machinery by which the fishing culture is transferred from one generation to the next. In the Central Region of Ghana, many families within the coastal fishing communities of Gomoa-Fetteh, Nyanyano, Moree, Elmina, Apam, Winneba and Senya-Beraku are noted to encourage their children’s involvement in their family business 8 .

The ILO 5 (2014) reported that child labor is unfavorable and unsafe to children's health and denies them of a proper education. Studies show that children who do not work cope better in school than children who do. Children who combine work and school can experience negative psychosocial effects on their educational progress and performance Journal of Public Health, 41 , (1), 18-26." class="coltj"> 20 , Children and Youth Services Review 93 , 248-254." class="coltj"> 21 , In L. Holt (Ed.). Geographies of children, youth and families. An international perspective . London: Routledge." class="coltj"> 22 . Abdalla et al. 20 affirmed in various studies that child labor adversely affects the health of children, leading to severe health complications that adversely affect their education. A study conducted by Anumaka 23 involving 2,307 pupils who sat for the primary leaving examination in the Nebbi District of North-East Uganda found that many of the children who did not perform well were those who had engaged in labor activities. Rahman and Khanam 24 found that child work had a negative effect on learning attainment in the areas of arithmetic and reading in Ghana. In a study conducted by Al-Gamal et al. 25 in Jordan, children who were not engaged in any form of work were found to perform better in school than those who are engaged in work. Afenyadu 4 contended that not all work is dangerous to children’s mental development and that work improves their basic knowledge and skills. He noted that the damage that child labor may do depends on the intensity and nature of the work. Holgado et al. 26 argued that there is no simple linear association between child labor and academic performance and that multiple factors, including labor conditions, morning work schedules, and the number of hours worked per week, can negatively affect the academic performance of child laborers. Nevertheless, a study by Heady 12 on the effect of child labor on learning outcomes showed that in Ghana, child work, especially that carried out in the home, had a fairly small effect on children’s school performance.

3. Methodology

This study employed a cross-sectional survey design and was conducted in Elmina (5°5ʹ0ʺN 1°21ʹ0ʺW), a major coastal fishing community in the Komenda–Edina–Eguafo–Abrem (KEEA) district in the Central Region of Ghana. Elmina, with a population of 32,819, serves as a center for several fishing-related and commercial activities. The Elmina fishing harbor is the third largest fish landing site in Ghana and contributes approximately 15% of the country's total fish output The Elmina 2015 Strategy: Building on the Past to Create a Better Future; A document prepared by the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) District Assembly for the Elmina cultural heritage and management Program. Elmina . Ghana: KEEA District Assembly." class="coltj"> 13 , 27 . The harbor provides a landing site for all types of canoes and small semi-industrial boats that engage in traditional fisheries. A study by Amador et al. 28 indicated that there were 2,632 fishermen, 231 canoes, and some semi-industrial vessels involved in fishing operations in Elmina. Another study by KEEA The Elmina 2015 Strategy: Building on the Past to Create a Better Future; A document prepared by the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) District Assembly for the Elmina cultural heritage and management Program. Elmina . Ghana: KEEA District Assembly." class="coltj"> 13 , 27 reported that approximately 75% of the population of Elmina is involved in fishing and fishing-related activities, such as processing and trading of fish. The landing harbor is reported to be always full of large crowds, including fishing crews, workers, and child laborers The Elmina 2015 Strategy: Building on the Past to Create a Better Future; A document prepared by the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) District Assembly for the Elmina cultural heritage and management Program. Elmina . Ghana: KEEA District Assembly." class="coltj"> 13 , 27 .

Elmina was chosen for the study because of its economic importance in the fishery sector of the Central Region of Ghana, as well as the involvement of children in Elmina in fishery activities. The population of this study included all junior high school students in Elmina. Multi-stage sampling was used to select the sample for the study. First, simple random sampling was used to select two junior high schools out of six in the Elmina community. In the second stage, all students of the two schools were included in the study, based on the school’s enrollment registers.

The study questionnaire covered information on household demographics (the household head’s education, employment/economic status, marital status, household size) and personal data of the students (age, sex, class, nature of child labor involvement, health conditions, and academic performance). The questionnaire was administered to students in the two junior high schools selected for the study, with the help of the teachers there. Data were collected from 242 students between July and August 2021. Data on the students’ last term examination results were also extracted from the school’s records. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and independent-sample t -tests.

Table 1 shows the descriptive statistics for students involved in and not involved in fishing activities and for the total of 242 students who participated in the study, 104 (43.0%) of whom were involved in fishery activities and 138 (57.0%) of whom were not. The mean ages of the working and non-working students were 7.79 and 6.64 years, respectively. Of the 242 students, 130 (53.70%) were males and 112 (46.30%) were females. With regard to statistics on the heads of the family, 59 (0.57%) of the 104 of the family heads of the students involved in fishery activities and 71 (0.51%) of the family heads of students not involved in fishery activities were found to be married. Approximately 57% of the family heads of the students involved in fishery activities and 62% of the family heads of students not involved in fishery activities were found to have a basic education (junior and senior high school). The majority (61%) of the families of the students involved in fishery worked within the traditional fishery sector and 34% did not. The household sizes of the students involved in and not involved in fishery activities are 7.79 and 6.54 members, respectively.

Table 1. Profile of Surveyed Students

• Tables index View option Full Size Next Table

We examined the nature and types of the students’ fishery activities. Table 2 shows the characteristics of fishery activities undertaken by children in the Elmina fishery community. Sixty-one (59.2%) of the students undertake fishery activities in family owned-enterprises, while the rest of the students work outside the family enterprise. Seventy (68%) of these students receive wages or token remuneration from their fishery work, and the rest, 33 (32%), receive no form of remuneration. On average, a working student was paid GHS 97 (19.4 US dollars) per month. Most of the students worked two day per week and four hours per week. However, the students’ average working hours and days per week were 12.3 hours and 3.3 days, respectively.

Table 2. Nature of Students’ Fishery Activities

• Tables index View option Full Size Previous Table Next Table

Table 3 shows the different types of fishery activities undertaken by children in the Elmina fishery community. We categorized the students’ fishery activities as light, regular, or harmful work. Light and regular work are by their very nature safer and less stressful. Harmful work is work that by its nature or circumstances is likely to harm children’s health or safety. As shown in Table 3 , light work dominated the fishery activities in which children were engaged. Fifty percent of the working students were found to be engaged in light work, followed by 40.4% engaged in regular work. Only 9.6% of the students were engaged in harmful work.

Table 3. Cross Tabulation of Types of Fishery Activities Engaged in by Children in Elmina

Age plays important role in determining the nature of the work in which children should be engaged. Under the ILO’s conventions on child labor, light work is work that should be carried out by children between the ages of 13 and 14, regular work is work that should be carried out by children between the ages of 15 and 17, and harmful work is work that should be carried out by children aged 18 years or more. As shown in Table 4 , 10 students that were involved in fishing in the lagoon or on the sea did not meet the age requirement, being less than 18 years old. In addition, one of those involved in the mending of nets was 12 years rather than the minimum of 13 years old as required for this type of regular work for children.

Table 4. Cross Tabulation of Types of Fishery Activities by Age

The respondents were also asked to indicate their perceptions regarding specific effects of child labor on their health and welfare, with response options ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). As seen in Table 4 , the mean score for work relating to students’ tiredness was 2.78, implying that students were not sure if their engagement in fishing work makes them tired. The mean scores for having access to money for school and always having access to food were 3.67 and 3.28, respectively. These scores indicate that the working students agree that their fishery work helps to provide them with money and food.

It is hypothesized that there was no significant difference in academic outcomes between students involved in and those not involved in fishery activities. The aggregate mean examination scores for the students involved in and students not involved in fishery activities were 54.71 and 50.90 respectively. The results actually show a slightly higher aggregate mean examination score for the students involved in the fishery business. An independent-sample t -test was conducted to compare the aggregate examination mean examinations scores for students involved in and not involved in the fishery activities in the Elmina community. The results revealed no statistically significant difference in aggregate mean examination scores for students involved in fishery activities (M = 54.71, SD = 15.73) and students not involved in fishery activities (M = 50.90, SD = 15.07; t (240) = 1.915, p = 0.06, two-tailed). The magnitude of the differences in the means (mean difference = 3.82, 95% CI: -0.1104 to 7.75) was very small (eta squared = 0.007).

Table 5. Students’ Perceptions of Effects of Working on Their Health and Welfare

Table 6. Statistical Test Results for Mean Examination Scores of Students Involved and Not Involved in Fishery Activities

Table 7. Statistical Test Results for Mean Examination Scores for Girls and Boys Involved in Fishery Activities

• Tables index View option Full Size Previous Table

The second null hypothesis was that there was no significant difference in academic outcomes between boys and girls involved in fishery activities. An independent sample t -test was conducted to compare the aggregate examination mean scores for boys and girls involved in the fishery activities in the Elmina community ( Table 7 ). The result show no statistically significant difference in scores for boys who were involved in fishery activities (M = 55.96, SD = 15.90) and girls involved in fishery activities (M = 53.08, SD = 15.53; t (102) = 0.877, p = 0.38, two-tailed). The magnitude of the differences in the means (mean difference = 2.75, 95% CI: -3.48 to 8.98) was very small (eta squared = 0.008).

5. Discussion

The problem of child labor in the agricultural sector in developing countries has received considerable attention in the economics literature. A particular concern is Ghana, which is one of the countries with the world’s largest proportion of working children. Child labor in Ghana is common in the fishing industry, with the majority of children engaged in fishery activities being involved in family businesses. While researchers maintain that child labor should be abolished because it endangers children’s lives and deprives them of their rights, others hold the view that child labor should be deliberated within the context in which it occurs, because some child work enables children to acquires basic resources, knowledge, and skills that can prove beneficial in later life 1 , the FAO Workshop On Child Labour in Fisheries and Aquaculture , Italy, Rome." class="coltj"> 4 . The United Nations Children and Education Fund (UNICEF)’s conventions propose that child work and not child labor be used in agricultural work, as it assists in the social development of children 3 . These diverging views can pose a problem for policy enforcement with respect to child labor, and it is therefore necessary to reexamine children’s work engagement and its effects on children. Many families in the coastal fishing communities in Ghana promote their children’s participation in their family’s fishery enterprises to preserve their business culture and the survival of family members. Although less attention is sometimes paid to this type of child labor, it can adversely affect the social and educational development of the child 1 , the FAO Workshop On Child Labour in Fisheries and Aquaculture , Italy, Rome." class="coltj"> 4 .

This study was conducted to examine the nature of child labor and its effects on children’s academic outcomes in junior high schools in the Elmina community of the Central Region of Ghana. It was hypothesized that there was no significant difference in academic outcomes between students involved in and those not involved in fishery activities. A cross-sectional survey design was conducted, and a total of 242 students completed questionnaires containing information about their demographic characteristics, education, child labor activities, and their effects. The result of the study revealed that 104 of the 242 students were involved in various fishery. These students engaged in fishery activities for many reasons. The majority, 104 (43%), of the surveyed students were found to be involved in fishery work within the traditional fishery sector, with 61(59.2%) engaged in family business. The household sizes of the families of students involved in and students not involved in fishery activities were 7.79 and 6.54 members, respectively. As noted by Adeborna and Johnson 8 , people living along the coast regard fishing as an integral aspect of their cultural identity and therefore ensure that their children learn fishing and fish processing. Children work to ensure the survival of their families and themselves. In addition, children in large families with low income are forced to engaged in work to help support their families.

It was hypothesized that there was no significant difference in academic outcome between students involved in and those not involved in fishery activities. The results of an independent-sample t -test showed no statistically significant difference in aggregate examination scores for students involved in fishery activities (M = 54.71, SD = 15.73) and students not involved in fishery activities (M = 50.90, SD = 15.07; t (240) = 1.915, p = 0.06, two-tailed). The magnitude of the effect of differences in the means (mean difference = 3.82, 95% CI: -0.1104 to 7.75) was very small (eta squared = 0.007) ( Table 5 ). This observation could be attributed to a number of factors, including the type and nature of their fishery work and its effects on their health and welfare. The analysis revealed that 104 of the 242 students were involved in various fishery activities, including sorting, selling, dressing, and smoking fish. On average, students were engaged in these activities 12.3 hours and 3.3 days per week. However, the majority of them worked 4 hours and 2 days per week. This confirms findings by Holgado et al. 26 that children working 1 or 2 hours per day may not interfere with schooling, may not make the child too tired to perform, and may even generate sufficient resources to enable the household to afford to send the child to school. According to ILO, “child labor” does not include all economic activity undertaken by children 3 . In the legal framework for child labor in the Children’s Act (Act. 560, 1998) of Ghana, the minimum age for engaging a child in “light work” is 13 years, and that for regular work is 15 years. The minimum age for children engaged in harmful work is 18 years. Light work is work that is not likely to be harmful to children’s health, development, and/or educational activities, while harmful work is work that poses a danger to the health and safety of children 8 . The respondents were also asked to indicate their perceptions regarding specific effects of child labor on their health and welfare. Generally, the students’ perceptions regarding the effects of child labor on their health indicate that students were not sure (2.78 on a five-point Likert scale) whether their engagement in fishing work made them tired. With regard to their welfare, working students reportedly agreed (3.67 and 3.28 on five-point Likert scales) that their fishery work helped to provide them with money for school and food, respectively. These reflections could be attributed to half of the working students engaging in light fishing activities, such as sorting and selling of fish. Forty percent of the working students were involved in regular fishing activities, including mending nets and dressing and smoking of fish, which are light and regular fishing activities and therefore can be described as child work rather that child labor.

6. Conclusion

While several studies have shown that children who engage in work face challenges with respect to their academic performance, our study found no statistically significant difference in aggregate examination scores for students involved in and those not involved in fishery activities. Multiple factors, such as students’ engagement in light work and working just a few hours and days per week, did not negatively affect their academic performance. Given that the students involvement in fishery activities in the Elmina community does not have any major negative impact on their academic performance, the authors recommend that fishing extension officers educate households in the fishing community to consider engaging their children in light and regular fishing activities if the need arises, to avoid disrupting their educational endeavors. Although this study provides a great insight into the effects of child labor on students’ academic performance in a fishing community, it has a limitation that should be addressed in future research. The findings and conclusion of this study was based on data gathered on individual students’ academic performance. Data on schools’ performance were not collected and compared. Future studies should include comparison of schools’ performance to gain a greater understanding of the effects of child labor on academic outcomes.

Acknowledgements

No grants were received to support this research and publication.

Published with license by Science and Education Publishing, Copyright © 2022 Moses Kwadzo and James Kofi Annan

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