DOMINA Observatory on Domestic Work published a new report which analyses and compares domestic work in Europe and focuses on the European Care Strategy.

The DOMINA Report 2023 provides crucial insights into the complex landscape of domestic work. It sheds light on the challenges and opportunities in the care sector, offering valuable insights for policymakers and stakeholders. The Director of EFSI, Aurélie Decker, contributed to the work in the employers’ views section. In a nutshell, the report key insights:

• Diversity of Legislation & Backgrounds: the sector is marked by diverse welfare systems and cultures, making it challenging to categorize workers or define recruitment procedures uniformly.
• Sector Expansion: Despite economic crises and pandemics, the domestic work sector has consistently expanded. Europeans are increasingly investing in people and home care to maintain their life-work balance.
• Women and Migrants: Women and migrants play a significant role in this sector across European countries.
• Different Welfare Systems: The management of care services varies across European countries due to differences in welfare systems. Personal and household provisions are prevalent in Mediterranean countries, while Northern Europe relies more on residential facilities.
• Personal and household services: The report emphasizes the increasing demand for PHS services, especially in the context of an aging population and women’s increased participation in the labor market.
• European Care Strategy: while it is remarkable that the European Commission introduced the “European care strategy” to enhance the quality, accessibility, and affordability of care services, it reflects a huge misunderstanding of domestic workers’ reality as it only refers to those providing long-term care services.
• Socio-economic Impact: The report highlights the economic relevance of domestic work in Mediterranean countries, where it significantly contributes to added value and overall welfare. In absolute terms, the countries with the highest Added Value in the sector are Italy (18.1 billion), Spain (9.5 billion) and Germany (7.7 billion).
• Mobilization and Equality: Stakeholders in domestic work must mobilize to ensure the European Care Strategy considers domestic work on equal footing with other care models, focusing on working conditions, quality, and investment.