Bolivia lowers minimum employment age to ten

Bolivia has become the first country to legally allow children as young as ten to work.

The rule, passed by Bolivia’s Congress last week, will apply so long as the work does not interfere with education and is taken independently to help the child’s family.

The legal working age will otherwise stand at 12, still provided that the child’s education is not affected.

International Labour Organization official Carmen Moreno has voiced concerns over the new regulation, as Bolivia is a signatory of a UN convention that sets 14 as the minimum employment age.

IZA World of Labor's Eric V. Edmonds finds that minimum employment age laws work best when coordinated with compulsory schooling laws, but questions the extent to which regulation really impacts upon child labor. Education in Bolivia is compulsory from the ages of five to 17.

Bolivian President Evo Morales is expected to sign the legislation into law shortly.

Related article:
Does minimum age of employment regulation reduce child labor? by Eric V. Edmonds