There are 155,000 working children between the ages of 5 and 17 in the DR. It is not known how many of them are involved in the sex trade, agricultural work, collecting trash or other dangerous work. Though this is a high figure, amounting to 5.3% of the total youth population, it is a 3.5% decrease from 2004 when the National Workforce Study (ENFT) was conducted. This figure is significantly down from 2000 when 436,000, or 18.1% of children worked. However the DR still registered high numbers in comparison to other countries in the region. Hoy reports that of these children 26.5% don’t go to school while 74.5% of these children juggle work and school. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There are 155,000 working children between the ages of 5 and 17 in the DR. It is not known how many of them are involved in the sex trade, agricultural work, collecting trash or other dangerous work. Though this is a high figure, amounting to 5.3% of the total youth population, it is a 3.5% … <\/p>\n