The number of child laborers in Mexico has hardly changed in ten years, and INEGI reveals that today 3.5 million minors work due to lack of household income

The National Child Labor Survey reveals a concerning stagnation in the reduction of child labor in Mexico over the past decade. Despite a slight decrease in overall figures, millions of minors continue to engage in prohibited or hazardous work, indicating that current efforts are insufficient to eradicate a deeply entrenched structural problem rooted in the economic vulnerability of families. Determining factors sustaining this reality include chronic labor poverty and recurrent exposure to adverse events such as droughts or inflation, which force households to rely on their children’s additional income. There is marked territorial inequality, with rural areas registering significantly higher rates than urban ones, and a direct relationship between resource scarcity and school absenteeism, which perpetuates the intergenerational cycle of poverty by limiting comprehensive development and access to higher-quality jobs in the future. This article is relevant to the field of open data because it demonstrates how the public dissemination of official statistics, such as those from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), is essential for making invisible social inequalities visible. Data transparency enables the identification of specific geographic and socioeconomic patterns, facilitating the design of evidence-based public policies and promoting accountability regarding the state’s commitment to protecting children’s rights.

Source: elimparcial.com
Published on 2026-11-11

The number of child laborers in Mexico has hardly changed in ten years, and INEGI reveals that today 3.5 million minors work due to lack of household income

Related news