Causes and Condition of Child Youth Poverty Comparing Canada

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

Global Value Chains in East Asia WTO 6. 03 min jun 2011 http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=9 -1 ht 2 Or. G 2 Y Starbuck's Coffee: Commodity Chain 10 min 2011 http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=os. W 9 dfueb_4

http: //www. irows. ucr. edu/papers/irows 13. htm (accessed jan 11, 07)

Production and consumption interlinks Core & Peripheries: Global Commodity Chain (NIKE) Integration of Households Children/youth Women * Nike's Globalization and Commodity Chain http: //maps. google. com/maps/ms? ie=UTF 8&t=m&vpsrc=6&oe=UTF 8&msa=0&msid=21106507784137747019 2. 0004 b 3088 ffc 9 f 6 ceb 280 Red: manuf Green markets yellow HQs and acquisitions

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? v=ruh 0 O_mj 1 v 0 5. 20 min Nepal child labour 3 min http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=6 z. SLVh. HEXt. M 8 Things You Really Need to Know About Child Slavery http: //www. takepart. com/photos/7 -new-stats-show-progress-fight-against-childlabor/how-many-kids- (slides) 2013 data

Value Chain: Geographically Dispersed Interlinks * Walmart Fire in Bangladesh 2012 (21. 26 min): http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=o. Lo. W 5 Z 9 vhhg (watch 6 min or more)

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

Concepts Comparing on Children in poverty Core: Canada & children in poverty • Affluent country • Child benefits • Social institutions & financial support for children Periphery: Mexico & India: Child Poverty • Poorer countries • Child poverty leads to child labour • Basic needs not met

The Global Situation of Children in Poverty 3. 10 min 2008 http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=j. CXXgr. L 0 Znk

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)

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

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)

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

Comparisons and Statistical Data

Total Global/ Regional Children/Youth in ’ 000 (March 2012) Countries <18 <5 Africa Middle East and North Africa Asia Latin America and Caribbean 477, 383 155, 135 156, 444 1, 151, 806 47, 524 316, 151 195, 713 53, 461 Industrialized countries 203, 008 Developing countries 1, 953, 940 Least developed countries 389, 258 World 2, 201, 180 57, 212 563, 545 122, 520 633, 933 http: //www. unicef. org/sowc 2012/ accessed jan 26, 2013

Contrasts between Canada & DW Children’s poverty in Canada: 2005 Children’s poverty in DW: 2004 • 1. 2 million • Relative poverty • Generational welfare trap • Poverty cycle • Social Security • Publicly funded schools • Universal medical car • 250 million • Absolute poverty • Lack basic needs • Hunger and death • AIDS & blindness • Severe disabilities • Violence and orphans • Relative Poverty The level of poverty of children living in households where disposable income is less than half of the median in a given country • Absolute poverty is the complete lack of resources to meet basic needs and sustain life

Affluent Canada (2005): Child poverty • 1. 2 million children, or (1 in 6) children live in poverty. • # in poverty- 20% rise (19892004) • 41% users of food banks, are children Child Poverty in Canada: Why are 10 percent of kids poor? 1 hr April 2010 http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=qt 6 s 1 ma. EM tw (2010) Income Inequality and Child Poverty in Canada: from Poor No More, a Canadian docu. 2. 53 min oct 2009 http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=GIWro. I 1 wymg 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. campaign 2000. ca/rc/rc 04/04 National. Report. Card. pdf accessed Jan 2010

Canada (cont’d) Developing countries (cont’d) (work) (groups that are in worse situation) • work as domestics • Child poverty rates for Aboriginal, immigrant & • work in trade & services visible minority groups are • work in manufacturing & construction 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? v=BEB 8 JEcoejo Support for First Nations' Children 2010 3 min 2010 http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=p 2 Aqun. Ag. Y 2 A • child poverty rate among children with disabilities is 28%

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 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_world_facts_a bout_hunger_and_poverty Know Your World: Facts About Hunger and Poverty 2011

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=x. VXzsxc 4 ik. Y 1. 37 min 2011.

Child Poverty in Canada LIC: Low income cut-off LIM: low income measure http: //www. statcan. gc. ca/pub/75 f 0002 m/2012002/lico-sfr-eng. htm 2011 Report Card on Child and Family Poverty in Canada

Canada’s Children in Poverty http: //www. campaign 2000. ca/report. Cards/national/2011 English. Rreport. Card. pdf

http: //www. campaign 2000. ca/report. Cards/national/2011 English. Rreport. Card. pdf

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.

Canada: Source: http: //dsp-psd. tpsgc. ca/Collection-R/Lo. PBd. P/CIR/824 -e. htm 2003 data

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

• Thesis (cont’d) 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

Comparative arguments using WST: 1. 2. 3. 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

1. 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? v=57 v_v 6 o. SGZI 2010 4 min

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

WST & Global Commodity Chain (GCC): Commodity Chain Research HD http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=bs 65 d. Ic. RKXE 4 min Core: Capital rich MNCs’ corporate Head Office: R&D Product design Customization Market distribution Products Retail Ads

Inequitable Impacts of global Commodity Chains on workers in Canada (Core): Wilma A. Dunaway, Wealth & Capital Concentration Economic Costs In Commodity Production, lower wages for the workers Low Remuneration for Non-Wage Labor (e. g. household work) Educational & cultural costs Critical individual costs Conspicuous Consumption Devaluation of Arts & Humanities Commodification of Youth, child, women as Ads, Logo Health Civic freedoms Discrimination: gender & Age Human rights Law & Order (prejudice against the poor)

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

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

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

Hidden Inputs of the Peripheries’ child & women in the global Commodity Chain Typical Production Node of a Capitalist Commodity Chain Cheap Labor Working class child & women subsidize the Production Process Capitalist Costs that are Externalized to Households 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? v=y. C 5 R 9 WPId 0 s (7. 39 min)

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 country’s 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

Comparative conceptual arguments: 1. 2. 3. 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

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

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

Conspicuous consumers Rich Kids for Romney http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=fit 79 MQwye. Y 50 sec 2012 • Creation of artificial wants • Persuaded to consume endlessly • Ads & Peer pressure lure the young

Core’s Child/ Youth conspicuous consumption: manufactured and manipulated by: • Adult-led army of advertisers • Marketing consultants • Youth researchers

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

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

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

http: //www. time. com/time/magazine/article/0, 9171, 1587254, 00.

http: //www. globalissues. org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats

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

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

Commodification of 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

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)

Globally Integrated conspicuous consumption • Kinko’s, 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 Kinko’s on friendly Macs, in 12 -point Helvetica on MS Word.

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

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

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

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

Comparative conceptual arguments: 1. 2. 3. 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

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? v=t. W_VDMYxhvc 4. 37 min sept 2011 Who made your shirt- child lab in china http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=K 2 KCYsm. WFP 8 3 min 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)

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

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

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/wcmsp 5/groups/public/@dgreports/@dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_126752. pdf Source for 2004: http: //www. ilo. org/global/Themes/Child_Labour/lang--en/index. htm

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/wcmsp 5/groups/public/@dgreports/@dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_126752. pdf Child Labour: Breaking the Cycle of Poverty 2010 (5 min) http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=B 1 c. ZFg. Jwz. YM *Child Labour http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=ruh 0 O_mj 1 v 0 5. 20 min 2006

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/wcmsp 5/groups/public/---dgreports/--dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_126685. pdf

India: children working (pop: 363 m. (31%) Age<14) (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: 32 m. (29%) Age <14) (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 514) -15% of male & 16% female - in child labour (1999 -2003) http: //www. unicef. org/infobycountry/mexico_statistic s. html

Working Children India (cont’d) : L Am (Mexico) (cont’d) • 40 million children (total pop. 500 mil in • 60 -115 million (Human LAm) living or working Rights Watch) (1996) on the streets of Latin • Child Economic Activity America rate: 13. 5% (Male) • 20% begging to 10. 3% (Female) survive • Largest number of working children in the • 24% by selling goods world - Child labour • rest by doing productivity accounts subcontracting work. (Xinhua: Comtex , 2000) for 20% of India’s GNP

India (cont’d) • 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_Exp loitation/ (acc. April 09) L. Am (Mexico) (cont’d) (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/resourcecent re/world/mexico. pdf (acc. Ap 09)

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

… 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)

… 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

1999 -2004 http: //www. unicef. org/publications/index_30398. html

2012: (source: http: //www. globalissues. org/article/26/poverty-factsand-stats Number of children in the world 2. 2 billion Number in poverty 1 billion (every second child)

http: //www. ilo. org/wcmsp 5/groups/public/@dgreports/@dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_126752. pdf

http: //www. ilo. org/wcmsp 5/groups/public/@dgreports/@dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_126752. pdf

http: //www. ilo. org/wcmsp 5/groups/public/@dgreports/@dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_126752. pdf

http: //www. ilo. org/wcmsp 5/groups/public/@dgreports/@dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_126752. pdf

http: //www. ilo. org/wcmsp 5/groups/public/@dgreports/@dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_126752. pdf

% Children in Poverty in OECD: Impact of State’s decline? (2000) Poverty http: //www. tagg. org/rants/OECDChild. Pov. html

INDIA (2004): • Conditions of ‘real’ poverty (worse than ‘monetary’ measure) – 26% of children are education poor; (cf. 52 % of adults) – 70% of children <13 years old are undernourished, 44% severely; – 7% of individuals aged 7 to 59 suffered from chronic illness. hdr. undp. org/. . . /presentations/2004/topic_3/Approaches%20 to%20 Measuring%20 poverty, %20 Fra nces%20 Stewart. ppt