The effects of migration on school attendance and work activity of children in Cambodia

Using data from the 2001 Cambodia Child Labor Survey, this study considers the effects of household migration on the school attendance and child work outcomes of Cambodian children ages 6 to 17. Previous studies of the impact of migration on education and child work participation in developing nations have produced mixed results and have not focused on the effects of the migration of entire households. By conducting multivariate regression analysis using an instrumental variable defined as the distance between a rural district and the closest urban district, this paper shows that, when migration is instrumented for, it has a positive relationship with school attendance. In addition, children who migrated with their household worked fewer hours than those who did not migrate. At the same time, work status, defined as whether or not the child was involved in work-related activity was not significantly correlated with migration. Understanding the effects of migration on education and child work is especially important for Cambodia, a post-conflict nation with a weak education system and high levels of internal migration and child work that faces major economic development challenges.