As economy booms, children toil in Myanmar

A boy chops fish at a seafood export factory in Hlaingthaya Industrial Zone, outside Yangon, Myanmar February 19, 2016. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

YANGON (Reuters) - When a boat stacked with gravel moors at a jetty in Yangon, 14-year-old Aung Htet Myat fills a basket he then carries on his back to trucks that whisk the load to construction sites springing up across Myanmar's booming biggest city.

For each basket a labour broker rewards the boy with a stick he puts in a plastic bottle tied to his belt. At the end of the shift, which at the busiest times can last up to 24 hours, he exchanges the sticks for cash - 100 baskets earns him about $2.50 (1.7 pounds).