A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF COVID-19’S IMPACT ON CHILD LABOR

Systematic reviews of empirical studies comprehensively examining the relationship between being out of school and child labor during and after the COVID-19 pandemic are limited. The aim in this systematic review is to fill this gap. Empirical studies published between 2020 and 2025 in ERIC, Web of Science, and Scopus were screened according to PRISMA 2020 guidelines. Seventeen studies were analyzed using narrative synthesis. Three themes emerged: economic shock and household survival strategies, collapse of education’s protective shield, and cycle of exploitation and early adulthood. Pandemic-induced income losses and school closures increased the risks for children, especially those in low-income and migrant households, to drop out of education and engage in hazardous work. Gender-based vulnerabilities increased significantly. Education functions as a protective mechanism against child labor; social protection measures and compensatory education policies play a critical role in breaking this cycle. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly weakened progress toward SDG 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 5 (Gender Equality), undermined education systems’ capacity to protect children from child labor, and exposed persistent policy gaps in efforts to eliminate child labor.