According to researchers, in the mid-90s, the unfavorable situation in the field of child and adolescent employment changed for the better: teenagers stopped going out and earning low-prestige work; the value of highly qualified labor increased, especially in the field of business and entrepreneurship. Having no comprehensive statistical data, we had to rely on the results of an expert survey (led by V. A. Mansurov) conducted in 1998 by the order of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions by employees of the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Advanced Training of Educational Workers. The study was of an aerobatic nature. Two groups were interviewed-adults and children. A semi-formal interview was used. The expert group of adults consisted of 19 people, including employees of state administration bodies, law enforcement agencies, and institutions engaged in operational assistance to children and adolescents. The group of children and adolescents included people from 6 to 15 years old.
It turned out that one of the main reasons for early employment is material need, which is most acutely felt in dysfunctional families. Usually in these families, parents do not give their children money for pocket expenses or consider it unnecessary to buy things that are burdensome for the family budget. Another reason is the desire of children to have fun and get pleasure. The "Pinocchio" syndrome is triggered when Papa Carlo takes off his last jacket, gives Pinocchio a primer, and he goes to the intersection and turns not to school, but towards the circus. Common causes include drunkenness, illness, or the death of parents. The main reasons are family problems, parents ' disabilities, and low financial standards. In such families, children feel a deep resentment against the parent who did not fulfill his role as a breadwinner and did not ensure the safe existence of the child. The loss of a sense of security becomes a source of deep psychological trauma.
What is the mechanism of pushing children out of the family into the street for the purpose of earning money? The study identified three similar mechanisms: 1) coercion, 2) psychological pressure, 3) encouragement. Children who have experienced the consumer attitude of their parents at home are placed in shelters. Many children do not attend school for several years, claiming that working is better than studying. Most of the children claimed that if their parents were paid a salary and the house was affluent, they would not work. But there are also those who, despite the prohibition of their parents to work, prefer work to study. Some teenagers expressed a penchant for an organized form of work, but it is quite difficult for them to get a job. A child or teenager does not yet know how to do anything, but already has to offer themselves as a labor force in the labor market.
The study confirmed the assumption that child labor or employment can be either forced or voluntary. We considered forced labor to be cases when a family or parent, employer, or person who has involved a child in work forces them to bring money, produce food, provide services, and so on. Voluntary employment is based on the motives of helping parents, the desire for early independence, as well as a tendency to spend romantic time.
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In most cases, working children do not think about acquiring work skills. According to some researchers, teenagers go to work without trying to learn how to work. If there is such a desire, then it is inherent in less than 10 % of young people, which corresponds to the data of our study: out of 35 interviewed children, only five said that it is useful, interesting and responsible to work.
There is a tendency to criminalize child labor. Criminal activities such as drug sales and distribution, child prostitution, theft, and begging are well organized and managed by adults. Children's and teen sex businesses are clearly organized, where amateur activity, according to employers, is " fraught with trouble." There is not a single minor involved in prostitution registered with the metropolitan police, nor is there a single criminal case involving children in the sex business. According to the head of the Department for Juvenile Affairs of the Moscow Prosecutor's Office, the explanation is simple: the relevant services do not want to deal with the problem. In addition, girls who have been engaged in prostitution and are held in a distribution center refuse to give interviews using a voice recorder. Each group of underage prostitutes, led by a pimp, must be assigned a group of "law enforcement officers" who regularly charge them a fee. Since criminal liability begins at the age of 14-16, it is more convenient to use a child for crimes, rather than an adult. Although most of these crimes involve an adult behind the child, it is difficult to prove this. Most often, the child is used by adults in the distribution of drugs, prostitution, begging. The lack of jurisdiction of a child is one of the most tempting motives for criminal structures. The child can always be "written off", "substituted" or "handed over", he can be promised that they will help him and his parents. Such children later become killers and car thieves. The ability of a small person to enter enclosed spaces is 80 % of self-interest.
Summing up the above, we can conclude that the main reasons for using child labor include: relative cheapness, lack of contact with parents, tax evasion, the ability of an adult to take the lead without having internal competition in the group, and avoiding criminal liability.
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