Impacts of Internal Remittances on Child Labor and Child Schooling in Vietnam

Abstract

Internal migration generates a substantial value of remittances, which become an important source of additional income for households, relaxing household budgetary restrictions, reducing child labor, and directing human capital investment. Using the dataset of the Vietnam Household and Living Standard Survey 2018, this study aims to investigate the impacts of internal remittances on child labor and school attendance in remittance recipient and remittance nonrecipient households. To overcome the endogenous problem of remittance status, the authors used bivariate probit estimations to examine the impact of internal remittance on the incidence of child labor and child schooling. The treatment effects models were employed to analyze the effects of internal remittances on the number of child working hours and the educational index. This research recommends developing policies that would make it easier for people to migrate for work and remit money. The importance of school investment was highlighted to reduce child labor.