About half of Ethiopian children under the age of fourteen work thirty-four hours a week in prostitution, slavery, the military, or other terrible jobs.  Two thirds of these children do not go to school.

Many of them cannot afford the school fees because only children who work in large factories are paid with money.  Most children, however, work the fields and are paid with food, clothes, and shelter.

As a result of HIV/AIDS, Ethiopia has the largest orphan population in the world, so often times child laborers do not have parents to go to for help. 

According to the Ethiopia Child Labor Survey Report, 85% of children ages five to seventeen did some form of housekeeping work in 2001.