Last week, the International Labor Organization reported that child labor had declined by 11 percent worldwide from four years ago, when the group published its first global estimates. But the fine print of the labor group's report raises many questions as to how meaningful and reliable these statistics are. For instance, just seventeen countries were surveyed; left out were China and Indonesia, both of which are filled with industries traditionally associated with child labor.
See "The Workplace: The end of child labor? Depends where you look", Thomas Fuller, International Herald Tribune, May 8, 2006