"They use the excuse that you are small, that you have to learn. Too many hours anyway are tiring and the body sometimes can't take it," says M., from Scalea, Calabria. On the occasion of World Day Against Child Labor, which falls today, Save the Children raises the alarm about a phenomenon of early labor that in Italy is estimated to have affected, in different ways, 336,000 minors between the ages of 7 and 15. The estimate is the result of a national survey conducted by the association in 2023, which also found that about 58 thousand minors between the ages of 14 and 15 were involved in work activities that were harmful to their schooling and psychophysical well-being. The data collected in 2023 found further confirmation in the very recent research that the organization devoted to the topic of child poverty and adolescent aspirations. The research, titled “Domani (Im)possibili” (“Tomorrows (Im)possible”), carried out by interviewing a representative sample of young people between the ages of 15 and 16, finds that 43.7% of adolescents between the ages of 15 and 16 help their families in various ways to meet expenses and, among them, 18.6% have done and are doing some work in order not to burden the family in difficulty (one out of two is under 16).
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