Children spending excessive time on market and domestic chores is common and pervasive in
developing countries. This time input contributes to household’s current consumption which is
beneficial to improving the current standard of living in the households. However with the
tendency of affecting children’s welfare. There has been a lot of research on time use of children
with more focus on children’s time on market activities whiles less attention is given to the hours
children spend on domestic chores or housework and its possible consequences on a child’s
welfare. It is for this reason that this thesis seeks to ascertain the determinants of children’s time
use on market and domestic chores in Ghana and examine its effect on school attendance. Data
from the 2012/2013 Ghana Living Standards Survey is used for the empirical analysis.
The study adopts OLS and Heckman-Two Step regression techniques to examine the determinants
of children’s time on domestic chores and market activities, respectively. The analysis reveals that
the demographic characteristics of the child in terms of age, gender, and location, distance to water
source, access to electricity and education of the head of household are significant factors in
influencing children’s time use. Boys spend more time on market activities than girls whiles girls
spend more time on domestic activities than boys. Also the study revealed that fostered children
spend more time on domestic chores and market related ventures than children co-residing with
both parents. The consequences of children’s involvement in market activities and domestic chores
on school attendance was explored using Heckman- Two step regression. The study results reveals
that children’s time spent on market activities negatively and significantly affects school
attendance. Time spent on domestic chores, however, was not significant.
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It is recommended that efforts by government and civil society organizations and NGOs be stepped
up to reduce the incidence of child labour, by limiting the involvement of children in both the
labour market and domestic enterprises as well as excessive household duties to free time for their
education.