Exploring the Socioeconomic Determinants of Child Labour: A Case of Child Labourers on the Volta Lake in Ghana

Child Labour is a global phenomenon. In Ghana, there is a high rate of Child labour on the Volta Lake in Yeji. However, knowledge about the key socioeconomic factors sustaining child labour has not been given considerable attention. Our study has addressed this phenomenon by employing a qualitative case study, and purposive and snowball sampling techniques to gather data from research participants through Focus Grouped Discussion and face-to-face interviews with 10 child labourers on the Volta Lake in Yeji. The key socioeconomic findings sustaining child labour, household poverty, household income or poverty, the largeness of the family, unemployment, and lack of access to employment opportunities. The findings contribute to both the growing body of knowledge and the empirical literature on child labour in the fishing industry and provide immense significance to policymakers and other stakeholders to reduce child labour in the fishing sector in Ghana and beyond.