Access for domestic workers to labour and social protection: An analysis of policies in 34 European countries

This comparative European study provides a detailed mapping of the domestic work sector and an assessment of the extent to which domestic workers have access to labour and social protection in 34 European countries: the 27 EU Member States and 7 (potential) candidate countries.
For each country, it gives an estimate of the number of domestic workers, their socio-demographic characteristics and the key features of their main job; it depicts the legal framework and main employment arrangements that apply in the sector; it describes the specific conditions for (and gaps in) access to labour and social protection for domestic workers; it briefly discusses the critical issues of undeclared work, formalisation/regularisation and labour shortages in the sector; it presents recent reforms and ongoing debates related to the situation of domestic workers; and it concludes with concrete suggestions for strengthening labour and social protection for domestic workers across Europe.
The study shows that while formal access to social protection is generally available to domestic workers (in declared employment), there are significant challenges in terms of effective access, adequacy of benefits, gender disparities and access for migrant workers in many countries. As far as labour protection is concerned, they often have, formally, the same labour rights as other workers; but they are more likely to face exploitative conditions and to suffer from a lack of enforcement of labour law. In a number of countries, their access to labour protection is subject to specific or conditional provisions.