Causes and Condition of Child/Youth Poverty: Comparing Canada and the DW (using some examples from India and Mexico)

1
Causes and Condition of Child/Youth Poverty
Comparing Canada and the DW (using some examples
from India and Mexico)
2
Global Value Chains in East Asia WTO 6.03min
jun 2011 http//www.youtube.com/watch?v9-1ht2OrG2
Y Starbuck's Coffee Commodity Chain 10 min 2011
http//www.youtube.com/watch?vosW9dfueb_4
 
3
http//www.irows.ucr.edu/papers/irows13/irows13.ht
m (accessed jan11,07)
4
Production and consumption interlinks Core
Peripheries Global Commodity Chain
(NIKE) Integration of Households Children/yout
h Women Nike's Globalization and
Commodity Chain http//maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie
UTF8tmvpsrc6oeUTF8msa0msid21106507784137
7470192.0004b3088ffc9f6ceb280 Red manuf Green
markets yellow HQs and acquisitions
5

• Household in the Global Commodity Chain
• (World System Theory)
• Core or Peripheral states
• Households (non indigenous)
• Classes Upper middle income
• Low income the Poor
• Indigenous households (Canada and
• L Am)
• Fourth World status
• Child labour 2006 BBC
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vruh0O_mj1v0 5.20
  min
• Nepal child labour 3min
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v6zSLVhHEXtM
• 8 Things You Really Need to Know About Child
  Slavery
• http//www.takepart.com/photos/7-new-stats-show-pr
  ogress-fight-against-child-labor/how-many-kids-
  (slides) 2013 data

6
Value Chain Geographically Dispersed Interlinks
Walmart Fire in Bangladesh 2012 (21.26min)
http//www.youtube.com/watch?voLoW5Z9vhhg (watch
6 min or more)
7
Globally pervasive child labour Child labour
uncovered in Apple's supply chain Internal audit
reveals 106 children employed at 11 factories
making Apple products in past year
Juliette Garside, telecoms correspondent The
Guardian, Friday 25 January 2013 19.22
GMT Apple store
8
Core Canada children in poverty
Concepts Comparing on Children in poverty
Periphery Mexico India Child Poverty

• Poorer countries
• Child poverty leads to child labour
• Basic needs not met

• Affluent country
• Child benefits
• Social institutions
• financial support for children

9
The Global Situation of Children in Poverty 3.10
min 2008 http//www.youtube.com/watch?vjCXXgrL0Z
nk
10

• WST concepts that explain the reasons for the
  increase in child poverty in the Core and in the
  Peripheries
• Neoliberalism
• Declining role of the State
• Deregulation results in Financial Meltdown (2008)
• Global Commodity Chain (GCC)

11

• Neoliberalism its result GCC in Core
• Declining role of the State
• Financial Deregulation
• Dismantling of Social Welfare
• Privatization of child care
• Youth integration into GCC
• Weakening of social policy towards children
• State is unable to compensate the impact on
• child poverty generated by the shocks
• Declining funding for youth programs educ.
• Youth unemployment

12

• WST concepts that explain the reasons for the
  increase in child poverty in the Core and in the
  Peripheries
• Neoliberalism
• Declining role of the State
• Deregulation resulted in Financial Meltdown
  (2008)
• Global Commodity Chain (GCC)

13

• Neoliberalism its result GCC in Core
• Declining role of the State
• Financial Deregulation
• Dismantling of Social Welfare
• Privatization of child care
• Youth integration into GCC
• Weakening of social policy towards children
• State is unable to compensate the impact on
• child poverty generated by the shocks
• Declining funding for youth programs educ.
• Youth unemployment

14
Comparisons and Statistical Data
15
Total Global/ Regional Children/Youth in 000
(March 2012) Countries lt18 lt5 Africa
477,383 155,135 Middle East and North
Africa 156,444 47,524 Asia 1,151,806 316,1
51 Latin America and Caribbean 195,713
53,461 Industrialized countries 203,008
57,212 Developing countries 1,953,940
563,545 Least developed countries 389,258
122,520 World 2,201,180 633,933
http//www.unicef.org/sowc2012/ accessed
jan26,2013
16
Contrasts between Canada DW

• Childrens poverty
• in DW 2004
• 250 million
• Absolute poverty
• Lack basic needs
• Hunger and death
• AIDS blindness
• Severe disabilities
• Violence and orphans
• Absolute poverty is the complete lack of
  resources to meet basic needs and sustain life

• Childrens poverty
• in Canada 2005
• 1.2 million
• Relative poverty
• Generational welfare trap
• Poverty cycle
• Social Security
• Publicly funded schools
• Universal medical car
• Relative PovertyThe level of poverty of children
  living in households where disposable income is
  less than half of the median in a given country

17

• Affluent Canada (2005)
• Child poverty
• 1.2 million children, or (1 in 6) children live
  in poverty.
• in poverty- 20 rise (1989-2004)
• 41 users of food banks, are children
• Child Poverty in Canada Why are 10 percent of
  kids poor? 1hr April 2010
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vqt6s1maEMtw (2010)
• Income Inequality and Child Poverty in Canada
  from Poor No More, a Canadian docu. 2.53min oct
  2009
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vGIWroI1wymg

• Peripheries or DW (2004)
• Child poverty
• 674 million in poverty (2005)
• 70 poor in rural (agriculture) Gordon, D, et
  al (2003) "Child poverty in the developing world"
  
• Child labour (2004)
• 250 million working
• 120 million work full time
• 61 in Asia, 32 in Africa, 7 in Latin Am
• http//www.hrw.org/children/labor.htm accessed
  oct 2010
• Canada http//www.campaign2000.ca/rc/rc04/04Natio
  nalReportCard.pdf accessed Jan 2010

18

• Canada (contd)
• (groups that are in worse situation)
• Child poverty rates for Aboriginal, immigrant
  visible minority groups are more than double the
  average of that of all children
• At Least 50 of Aboriginal Children Live in
  Poverty in Canada 4 min
• https//www.youtube.com/watch?vBEB8JEcoejo
• Support for First Nations' Children 2010 3 min
  2010
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vp2AqunAgY2A
• child poverty rate among children with
  disabilities is 28

• Developing countries (contd) (work)
• work as domestics
• work in trade services
• work in manufacturing construction

19

• DW (2011)
• Child poverty
• 1 out of 6 infants are born with a low birth
  weight in developing countries.
• A third of all childhood death in sub-Saharan
  Africa is caused by hunger.
• Every five seconds, a child dies from
  hunger-related diseases.
• 22,000 children die each day due to conditions of
  poverty
• http//www.thp.org/learn_more/issues/know_your_wor
  ld_facts_about_hunger_and_poverty
• Know Your World Facts About Hunger and Poverty
  2011

• Canada 2009
• Child Poverty
• 639,000 children live in poverty
• Poverty rate 9.5
• Youth unemployment
• 14.1 unemployment rate
• Aged 15-24 408,000 youth unemployed in Oct.
  2011.
• weekly wage 398.74 - 525.90 less than those
  aged 25 and over
• 30 of these youth find themselves in precarious
  jobs
• REVISITING FAMILY SECURITY IN INSECURE TIMES
• 2011 Report Card on Child and Family Poverty in
  Canada

20
Child poverty is defined in the 2011 Society
report as The proportion of children 17 years
and under living in households where disposable
income is less than half of the median in a given
country. Ref 2011 Society report (2011). The
Conference Board of Canada, Ottawa Child
poverty in BC 2011 http//www.youtube.com/watch?v
xVXzsxc4ikY 1.37min 2011 .
21
Child Poverty in Canada
LIC Low income cut-off LIM low income measure
http//www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/75f0002m/2012002/lic
o-sfr-eng.htm
2011 Report Card on Child and Family Poverty in
Canada
22
Canadas Children in Poverty
http//www.campaign2000.ca/reportCards/national/20
11EnglishRreportCard.pdf
23
http//www.campaign2000.ca/reportCards/national/20
11EnglishRreportCard.pdf
24
Source Statistics Canada, 2006, 2001 1996
Censuses through the Toronto Social Research and
Community Data Consortium (2006) and the
Community Social Data Strategy (1996-2001). LICO
Before-Tax.
25
Canada
Source http//dsp-psd.tpsgc.gc.ca/Collection-R/Lo
PBdP/CIR/824-e.htm 2003 data
26

• Thesis on children/youth
• Increasing global corporatization has integrated
  children/ youth in the Core and Peripheral
  countries into a global commodity chain.
• Most children/youth in the Core help extract a
  major share of surpluses (corporate profits)
  through their consumption within a stable
  political economy. Thus, a majority of the
  children/youth in the affluent Canada (Core) have
  been transformed into conspicuous consumers or
  service sector commodities, while a minority of
  them (1 in 10 (circa 2010)) live in poverty

27

• Thesis (contd)
• In contrast, through poorly paid or unpaid
  household labour children/youth in the
  Peripheries are exploited through surplus
  extraction for profit for and consumption in the
  Core. In the Periphery, those children/youth who
  are from the rich and middle classes, become
  comprador consumers. But most of the peripheral
  countries children are absolutely poor and must
  work for their livelihood. Thus they become
  labour commodities

28

• Comparative arguments using WST
• Global corporatization has integrated children/
  youth in the Core and Peripheral countries into a
  global commodity chain.
• Most children/youth in the Core help extract a
  major share of surpluses (corporate profits)
  through their consumption within a stable
  political economy. Thus, a majority of the
  children/youth in the affluent Canada (Core) have
  been transformed into conspicuous consumers or
  service sector commodities, while a minority of
  them (1 in 10 (circa 2010)) live in poverty
• In contrast, through poorly paid or unpaid
  household labour children/youth in the
  Peripheries are exploited through surplus
  extraction for profit for and consumption in the
  Core. In the Periphery, those children/youth who
  are from the rich and middle classes become
  comprador consumers. But most of the DWs
  children are absolutely poor and must work for
  their livelihood. Thus they become labour
  commodities

29

• Global corporatization has integrated children/
  youth in the Core and Peripheral countries into a
  global commodity chain.
• CHILD LABOR/SLAVERY NIKE, APPLE, GAP, MICROSOFT
  -- CHINA, INDIA, PAK
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v57v_v6oSGZI 2010
  4min

30

• Single division of labor core accumulates
  capital as periphery supplies labour

31
WST Global Commodity Chain (GCC) Commodity
Chain Research HD http//www.youtube.com/watch?v
bs65dIcRKXE 4 min Core Capital rich MNCs
corporate Head Office RD Product
design Customization Market
distribution Products Retail Ads
32
Inequitable Impacts of global Commodity Chains
on workers in Canada (Core) Wilma A. Dunaway,
Wealth Capital Concentration In Commodity
Production, lower wages for the workers Low
Remuneration for Non-Wage Labor (e.g. household
work)
Economic Costs
Conspicuous Consumption Devaluation of Arts
Humanities Commodification of Youth, child, women
as Ads, Logo
Educational cultural costs
Health Civic freedoms Discrimination gender
Age Human rights Law Order (prejudice against
the poor)
Critical individual costs
33

• GCC
• Peripheries Labour surplus
• Production process
• Vertically integrated
• GCC

34
Vertically integrated Model MNCs GCC Foreign
subsidiary or Subcontracting local
company Manufacturing factories or
Sweatshops Extract raw materials from resource
rich areas Extract surplus from labour
Household labour of the poor (low/no wage or
slavery) Men, Women, Youth Children
35

• GCC (contd.)
• Peripheries Labour surplus
• Production process
• Vertically integrated
• GCC

36
Hidden Inputs of the Peripheries child women
in the global Commodity Chain
Typical Production Node of a Capitalist Commodity
Chain
Cheap Labor
Capitalist Costs that are Externalized to
Households
Working class child women subsidize the
Production Process
Inequitable Impacts on children women
Economic Costs to the Periphery
Surplus extraction from labour No-wage, Unpaid
Low-wage subsidize commodity production
State Subsidies in providing societal
Infrastructure of maintaining stable social order
State Subsidies to Capitalist Enterprises
External costs http//www.youtube.com/watch?vyC5
R9WPId0s (7.39min)
37

• Inequitable Impacts of global Commodity Chains
  on Children/youth workers in the Periphery
  Wilma A. Dunaway,
• Economic costs
• Negative impact of loss of education years on a
  countrys development
• Country loses skill development in its future
  population
• Health costs
• Children in hazardous work Life span, health and
  welfare irrecoverably affected
• Social costs
• Cycle of Poverty destitution becomes endemic

38

• Comparative conceptual arguments
• Global corporatization has integrated children/
  youth in the Core and Peripheral countries into a
  global commodity chain.
• Most children/youth in the Core help extract a
  major share of surpluses (corporate profits)
  through their consumption within a stable
  political economy. Thus, a majority of the
  children/youth in the affluent Canada (Core) have
  been transformed into conspicuous consumers or
  service sector commodities, while a minority of
  them (1 in 10 (circa 2010)) live in poverty
• In contrast, through poorly paid or unpaid
  household labour children/youth in the
  Peripheries are exploited through surplus
  extraction for profit for and consumption in the
  Core. In the Periphery, those children/youth who
  are from the rich and middle classes become
  comprador consumers. But most of the DWs
  children are absolutely poor and must work for
  their livelihood. Thus they become labour
  commodities

39

• Canada Core countrys children/youth
• Most are higher or middle income classes (80 all
  children in Canada)
• Children at school
• Youth at school/work
• Consumers Conspicuous Consumption

40

• Canada Child/youth are transformed into
• Conspicuous consumers (endless consumption)
• Service sector commodities

41

• Conspicuous consumers
• Rich Kids for Romney http//www.youtube.com/watc
  h?vfit79MQwyeY 50sec 2012
• Creation of artificial wants
• Persuaded to consume endlessly
• Ads Peer pressure lure the young

42

• Cores Child/ Youth conspicuous consumption
• manufactured and manipulated by
• Adult-led army of advertisers
• Marketing consultants
• Youth researchers

43

• Child/youth in the Core transformed into
• Conspicuous consumers (endless consumption)
• Commodified in the Service sector

44

• Core youth work is
• Low-end service work
• Low in status, value and skill
• Not real work
• Corporations view youth work as hobby

45

• Consumerism - Commodification Link
• Circularity in youth employment
• Service sector employers
• Hire young workers because youth
• sells product
• Youth/child often is the real product being sold
• e.g. Ads of child/youth in jeans or t-shirts,
  sneakers or snowboards, soft drinks or CDs
• Youth as consumers

46
http//www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1
587254,00.html
47
http//www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-fac
ts-and-stats
48

• e.g. Retail stores and food service companies
• Exploit the sexuality of young workers (esp.
  women) to attract customers and increase sales
• Staffing stores by hiring youth as workers with
  the right look
• Hire by screening for an appearance, attitude
  and demeanor based on age, gender, race and class

49

• The company hires brand representatives
• Not cashiers or clerks
• Exhibiting the AF Look (to experience
  Abercrombie Fitch stores)
• Selling an experience for customer to experience
  again and again through the Brand

50

• Commodification of Youth
• Youth workers
• wear brand name perfumes as directed.
• But, in Starbucks no colognes and perfumes
  only the romance of coffee aroma
• Faces freshly scrubbed with Body Shop Blue Corn
  Mask
• Apartments furnished with Ikea self-assembled
  bookcases and coffee tables

51

• Circularity in youth employment
• MNCs created mass consumerism (in post-WW II
  era)
• Commodification of youth in mass advertising
• Demand for youth as service sector workers
• Canadian youth want stable economy why? (Jobs
  MNCs profits will remain stable)

52

• Globally Integrated conspicuous consumption
• Kinkos, Starbucks and Blockbuster clerks buy
  their uniforms of khakis and white or blue shirts
  at the Gap
• Hi! Welcome to the Gap! greeting cheer is
  fueled by Starbucks double espressos
• Résumés that got them the jobs were designed at
  Kinkos on friendly Macs, in 12-point Helvetica
  on MS Word.

53

• Why Commodity Chains are created by global
  corporation? How does it work?
• NDL International division of labour (post
  colonial)
• Endless accumulation economic growth to
  maximize profits
• Commodification of everything
• Global search for surplus extraction
• Repeated cycles of innovation, change, and
  expansion

54
Nike World Headquarters in Oregon

• Profits Patents
• Research Lab tests in biomechanics, physiology,
  sensory
• Customise to suit the interest of clients
  geography, age, gender
• e.g., Runners
• in the United States prefer hard surfaces
• in Europe prefer trails

Ads (consumerism) e.g. 2001 the Nike Goddess
outlets
Profit percolates up Commodification of the
Young child youth workers consumers
55
Extraction of Raw materials (mostly from
peripheries) Rubber, leather and plastic
Extracted from places located in close
proximity Use of household as
labour Women Youth Children
56
Peripheral states Subcontracts the production
process 765 contract factories (Nov
2013) http//nikeinc.com/pages/manufacturing-map
Independent private contractors in
China, Indonesia and Vietnam Vertically
integrated model
Sent to the factories or Sweatshops for
manufacturing
57

• Comparative conceptual arguments
• Global corporatization has integrated children/
  youth in the Core and Peripheral countries into a
  global commodity chain.
• Most children/youth in the Core help extract a
  major share of surpluses (corporate profits)
  through their consumption within a stable
  political economy. Thus, a majority of the
  children/youth in the affluent Canada (Core) have
  been transformed into conspicuous consumers or
  service sector commodities, while a minority of
  them (1 in 10 (circa 2010)) live in poverty
• In contrast, through poorly paid or unpaid
  household labour children/youth in the
  Peripheries are exploited through surplus
  extraction for profit for and consumption in the
  Core. In the Periphery, those children/youth who
  are from the rich and middle classes become
  comprador consumers. But most of the DWs
  children are absolutely poor and must work for
  their livelihood. Thus they become labour
  commodities

58

• Peripheral states
• MNCs Subcontractors (owner class)
• Upper income class (global Elite class)
• luxury goods consumer household
• Rich Kids Gone Wild? http//www.youtube.com/watch?
  vtW_VDMYxhvc
• 4.37 min sept 2011
• Who made your shirt- child lab in china
  http//www.youtube.com/watch?vK2KCYsmWFP8 3min
  2009
• Educated skilled workers
• Middle income class (White or Blue collar)
• Children youth at school
• Formal sector Working men/women
• Consumer household (beyond basic goods)

59

• Peripheral states
• Lower income and Poorer classes
• Working Men
• Working Children
• Working youth
• Working women

60

• Fourth World
• Indigenous population
• Unemployed discriminated men
• Children exploited in boarding schools
• Culturally alienated youth
• Working and abused women

61
Child/youth Poverty in Peripheral
countries International Labor Organization
(ILO) reports In 2010 Global total of Children
(age 5-17) 1.586 billion 20 mil. more than in
2004 (1.3 increase) In the Developing World
(2010) Working children. (age 5 - 17) 306
mil. Child labour (5-17) 215 million
http//www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/_at_dgreports
/_at_dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_126752.pdf Sou
rce for 2004 http//www.ilo.org/global/Themes/Ch
ild_Labour/lang--en/index.htm
62

• Child labourers are defined as those
• Under the minimum age for work, or
• Engaged in work that poses a threat to their
  health, safety or morals, or are subject to
  conditions of forced labour.
• Source http//www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/_at_d
  greports/_at_dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_126752.
  pdf
• Child Labour Breaking the Cycle of Poverty 2010
  (5 min)
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vB1cZFgJwzYM
• Child Labour
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vruh0O_mj1v0
  5.20min 2006

63
Children in hazardous work 115 million 2004
- 2010 20 Increase in child labour in the 15-17
years age group (from 52 million to 62 million)
http//www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgrepor
ts/---dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_126685.pdf
64

• India children working
• (pop363 m. (31) Agelt14) (2009)
  https//www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world
  -factbook/print/in.html)
• 13.6 million (Indian census) in 1981
• 20 million children in hazardous condition
  (Labour Ministry) in 1994
• 77 million live below poverty line in 1995
• (Commission on Labour Standards)

• Mexico children working
• (pop 32m. (29) Age lt14)
• (2009)
• 8-11 million children under the age of 15 years
  are working in Mexico in 1994 (US Dept of Labor,
  Sweat and Toil of Children, 1994, citing US Dept
  of State, Human Rights Report, 1993)
• 16 of children (age 5-14) -15 of male 16
  female - in child labour (1999-2003)
• http//www.unicef.org/infobycountry/mexico_statist
  ics.html

65
Working Children

• India (contd)
• 60-115 million (Human Rights Watch) (1996)
• Child Economic Activity rate 13.5 (Male) 10.3
  (Female)
• Largest number of working children in the world -
  Child labour productivity accounts for 20 of
  Indias GNP

• L Am (Mexico) (contd)
• 40 million children (total pop. 500 mil in LAm)
  living or working on the streets of Latin America
• 20 begging to survive
• 24 by selling goods
• rest by doing subcontracting work. (Xinhua
  Comtex , 2000)

66

• India (contd)
• 85 of rural child laborers work in cultivation
  and agriculture, e.g., tea plantations,
• 40 of urban child laborers work in manufacturing
  and repair
• Also in carpet making, gem polishing, fireworks
• http//www.indianchild.in/Child_Exploitation/
  (acc. April 09)

• L.Am (Mexico) (contd) (2000)
• L.Am children working in the streets, markets,
  tourist other areas of 108 cities -70 are boys
  and 30 girls
• work as cart-pushers, kitchen help, and vendors
• children in the age group of 7 to 14 make up 30
  of day laborers in the agriculture sector
• http//www.globalmarch.org/resourcecentre/world/me
  xico.pdf (acc. Ap 09)

67

• http//www.hrw.org/children/labor.htm 2004
• Why is child labour bad for the children?
• Four-year-olds tied to rug looms to keep them
  from running away - Working at rug looms, for
  example, has left children disabled with eye
  damage, lung disease, stunted growth, and a
  susceptibility to arthritis as they grow older
• Work prevents the child from going to school
• Work long hours, often in dangerous and unhealthy
  conditions, are exposed to lasting physical and
  psychological harm

68

• bad for children
• Children work for too many hours and too many
  days, for too little, or no pay
• subject often to physical abuse
• exposed to dangerous pesticides
• work with dangerous tools
• What did World Bank and the Swiss Agency for
  Development and Cooperation do?
• financing sericulture projects dependent on
  child labor
• ( Human Rights Watch, 2004)

69

• bad for children
• Children making silk thread in India
• dip their hands into boiling water that burns
  
• blisters
• breathe smoke and fumes from machinery
• handle dead worms that cause infections
• guide twisting threads that cut their fingers
• Children harvesting sugar cane in El Salvador
• use machetes to cut cane for up to nine hours a
  day in
• the hot sun
• injures their hands and legs
• medical care often not available

70
1999-2004
http//www.unicef.org/publications/index_30398.htm
l
71
2012 (source http//www.globalissues.org/articl
e/26/poverty-facts-and-stats Number of children
in the world 2.2 billion Number in poverty 1
billion (every second child)
72
http//www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/_at_dgreports
/_at_dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_126752.pdf
73
http//www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/_at_dgreports
/_at_dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_126752.pdf
74
http//www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/_at_dgreports
/_at_dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_126752.pdf
75
http//www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/_at_dgreports
/_at_dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_126752.pdf
76
http//www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/_at_dgreports
/_at_dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_126752.pdf
77
Children in Poverty in OECD Impact of States
decline? (2000)
Poverty
Poverty
Poverty
http//www.tagg.org/rants/OECDChildPov.html
78

• INDIA (2004)
• Conditions of real poverty (worse than
  monetary measure)
• 26 of children are education poor (cf. 52 of
  adults)
• 70 of children lt13 years old are
  undernourished, 44 severely
• 7 of individuals aged 7 to 59 suffered from
  chronic illness.
• hdr.undp.org/.../presentations/2004/topic_3/Approa
  ches20to20Measuring20poverty,20Frances20Stewa
  rt.ppt