Child labour and schooling in Palestine: the role of the labour market and the conflict with Israel

This paper studies the impact of changes in the local labour market and in the IsraeliPalestine conflict on child labour and school attendance of Palestinian children. We use a novel dataset obtained by matching the Palestinian Labour Force Survey with a seperate data set of children (10-14 years) for the period 1999-2006. Using a bivariate probit model for child labour and schooling outcomes, we find that an increase in market wage increases child labour. We also find that increases in the military restriction imposed by Israel increases child labour, and modifies the relationship between market wage and child labour.