The 2024 survey was presented at the MTSS headquarters and showed that more than 40,000 children and adolescents must seek support in the labor market. According to the report, nearly seven percent of the population between five and 17 years of age is forced to work.

The issue has a greater impact in the interior of the country, and girls account for a significant proportion of unpaid work in dangerous domestic services, the report notes. For the first time, the survey included the dimension of unpaid care work within the home.

Child labor is a direct obstacle to the exercise of rights, the development of educational paths, and equal opportunities, said Patricia Rivas, the representative of the International Labor Organization (ILO).

For his part, the head of the Ministry of Social Security (MTSS), Juan Castillo, who warned about the gender gaps that “begin to develop at a very early age,” noted that children from low-income households bear the greatest workload.

This issue is closely linked to poverty, which affects 32.2 percent of children under six years of age. It also affects 28.1 percent of those between six and 12 years of age, and 27 percent of those between 13 and 17 years of age, according to the National Institute of Statistics.

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