13. Travail des enfants et économie informelle : le cas du Pérou

?Children?s work? is a phrase that corresponds to concrete situations that vary considerably from one cultural area to another. This very article focuses on the Peruvian case. The country is indeed particularly interesting in that 29,8 % of the Peruvian children aged between 6 and 17 actually work in the informal economy. This is a mere consequence of the need to ensure decent living conditions for a large number of families, and needs to be interpreted as such. The domestic aspect of the children?s work makes it all the more difficult for public services to quantify and control. Any activity, be it legal or not, that ensures an additional income for the family and helps its members survive can therefore be considered as a kind of ?job?. Activities range from the one that is part and parcel of the education of a child to the one which harms the teenager?s health. All stem, however, from a certain poverty and the job insecurity of most parents. Worries about the risk to fall under the poverty line are a common feature of the families whose children work. The relationship between children?s work and their education is ambiguous. If some jobs might help the teenager finance the necessary expenses that come with schooling, others prevent the child from attending school at all.