Child Labor In Poor Household Economy (Case Study: Kampung Rawakompeni, Kelurahan Kamal, Kecamatan Kalideres, Jakarta Barat)

Abstract

It is widely known that poor household perform a lot of survival strategies to survive. The poorer the household the more complicated the strategy will be undertaken. The study tries to observe how poor household of utban area develop their survival strategies by using any means of “capital” including child labor as human capital in the family. The first objective of this research is to describe survival strategies that are used by poor household and the use of psychological situation of children labor via time allocation in the household. The second objective is to study the impact of the children worker usage strategies. The third objective is to overview the social impact of child labors. The research is conducted in Rawakompeni, Kamal Subdistrict, Kalideres District, West Jakarta. The research location were selected purposively due to fact that Rawakompeni is the one of the poor area in Jakarta. This research used qualitative approach and employed in-depth interview, observation, and literature study as methods. Poor households are usually faced by the problem of lack of asset and limited access to fulfill their economic needs. Poor household only had low quality of human capital as household resources. Because of that, they must take the advantage of their household resources and using them as a part of their survival strategies. Poor household in the city used kinds of survival strategies that including the use of child as a means of earning income. Children used their time to work and by doing so, they fulfill their household needs. It is concluded that children have a very important role in a poor household to survive economically.