Topic Overview
The child labor evidence review examines the existing causal evidence on child labor and child work targeted for elimination. Child labor refers to the engagement of children in prohibited work. While the definition of child labor is guided by International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions and resolutions, there is no single definition across nations. Moreover, definitions may change over time, and the terminology and concepts used to categorize child labor (and to distinguish from working children) may be inconsistent in published studies and research reports. CLEAR acknowledges differing definitions of child labor by country but does not validate the definition of child labor or assess the validity of authors’ constructs within individual studies for the country in which the program or intervention being examined occurs. For each study in the review, CLEAR assesses the quality of the causal evidence and summarizes its approach, findings, and the intervention examined.
Status: Literature reviewed in this topic area currently covers 2006 - 2018.
View the Synthesis Report
Our synthesis reports show the scope of the evidence base and highlight key, actionable insights from the highest-quality causal studies essentially answering the so what of the research.
Explore Studies
Find CLEAR's plain-language reviews of individual studies to learn about what a study found, how it was designed, and how relevant it may be to your needs.
How do we review evidence?
CLEAR reviews studies using formal standards and procedures that were developed in consultation with experts in research methods, as well as with practitioners working in the specific topic area. You can find CLEAR's current Policies and Procedures for reviewing studies and its standards for reviewing studies and rating findings on the CLEAR's Review Process page.