MANILA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The number of working children aged five to 17 was estimated at 1.09 million in 2023, down from 1.48 million in 2022, according to the latest data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Thursday.
In 2021, the agency said there were 1.37 million working children in the Philippines.
Regarding the share of working children in the population of children aged five to 17 years old, the PSA said it declined to 3.5 percent in 2023 from 4.7 percent in 2022. And in 2021, the proportion of working children was estimated at 4.3 percent.
Of the working children in 2023, boys comprised 59.1 percent, while girls comprised 40.9 percent. Similarly, more than half of the working children were boys in 2022 and 2021, the PSA said.
By broad industry group, the services sector emerged as the primary employment hub for working children, accounting for 50 percent of the total working children in 2023, the data showed.
The PSA said child laborers in the country decreased in 2023. The total number of working children engaged in child labor was estimated at 678,000 in 2023, lower than the reported number of working children engaged in child labor in 2022 at 828,000 and in 2021 at 935,000.
Across age groups, child laborers aged 15 to 17 accounted for the largest share of working children engaged in child labor at 74.4 percent in 2023.
By broad industry group, the agriculture sector continued to account for the largest share of child laborers at 65.3 percent in 2023, followed by the services sector with 30.7 percent share and the industry sector with 4 percent share.■