Over the years, child labor has become one of the most severe issues in the debate of globalization. Many have claimed that favorable income effects are most likely to reduce the need for child labor, while others have argued that the impact of economic globalization on low-income families from developing countries is the primary factor causing the exploitation of child labor. This led to an arising question: Why does child labor still exist today? And is globalization the main cause of it?
In the world today, as millions of people from developed countries enjoy the benefits of globalization through cheap products and services, around 150 million children from the ages of 5 to 14 years old in developing countries are involved in child labor in order to produce those products and services (UNICEF 2011; Basu 1999). They work in industries of agriculture, manufacturing, and even sex trade with the intention of helping their families undergoing financial problems, without realizing that this could lead to the possibility of harming their physical and mental development, interfering with their education (UNICEF 2011; Polakoff 2007; Rahman & Khanam 2012). Although poverty is still revealed as a strong determinant of child labor, other factors also play important roles; including illiteracy, lack of quality health facilities, employers’ attitudes, limited support from governments in the area of quality education for poor families and inappropriate government policies (Rahman &