Live-in Workers Research Articles

Digital economy, land resource mismatch, and urban housing costs: Evidence from China's digital governance policy perspective

Live in peace and work in contentment" encapsulates people's aspirations within a digital economy framework. Has the digital economy truly realized this ideal? To answer this query, this paper delves into the correlation between the digital economy, resource mismatch, and urban housing costs across 272 Chinese cities. It evaluates the impact of policies propelled by the digital economy, using the “Broadband China” strategy as a benchmark. The findings suggest several key conclusions: (i) The imbalance in land resources exacerbates the digital economy's impact on escalating urban housing expenses. This effect is particularly pronounced in cities within the Yangtze River Economic Zone, cities experiencing low economic growth rates, large cities with high employment levels, and cities with relatively low wages. (ii) The rise of the digital economy has contributed to increased urban housing costs. For every 0.1 unit increase in a city's digital economy level, there is an observed average rise of 9.87% in housing costs. (iii) Policies steered by the digital economy, such as the "Broadband China" strategy, have significantly increased urban housing costs. A higher degree of resource mismatch correlates with a more pronounced impact of the “Broadband China” strategy pilot in elevating urban housing expenses. It is imperative to emphasize the qualitative ramifications of the digital economy. This should coincide with efforts to enhance resource utilization efficiency, aiming to mitigate the adverse effects of the digital economy's advancement on housing costs.

Economic Vulnerability of the Underprivileged during the COVID Pandemic: The Case of Bangladeshi Domestic Workers

The current pandemic has substantially affected workers in the informal economy in Bangladesh. Most of the underprivileged groups of people engaged in the informal economy have been going through tremendous economic vulnerabilities during this pandemic. Among them, domestic workers are one of the most vulnerable groups of people who live on the margins. Hence, this study examines the degree of vulnerability domestic workers have experienced amid this challenging time. To assess the key vulnerabilities, seven live-out and two live-in workers from the capital city’s Mohammadpur, Mirpur, Malibagh, and the Korail areas were interviewed. We conducted individual semi-structured interviews using multiple open-ended questions. The respondents reported loss of employment, loss of income, food shortages, inability to pay rent, and inadequate social security coverage as the critical vulnerabilities. The findings of our paper can be used by policymakers and employers to address the serious problems the Bangladeshi domestic workers have been facing. Since no prior study has been undertaken to analyze the vulnerability during a pandemic in the Bangladeshi context, this research will have significant theoretical and policy implications. Further research can be undertaken incorporating larger sample size and other factors concerning COVID-induced economic vulnerability of Bangladeshi domestic workers.

Working 9 to Non-Stop: The Fair Housing Act's Sexual Harassment Protections for Domestic, Agricultural, and Other Live-In Workers

Live-in workers, for whom their bosses are typically also their landlords, are often trapped in sexually harassing situations that feel as though they have no practical or legal redress, especially when the worker’s harasser can both fire and evict them in one fell swoop. This Note explores the novel possibility of using fair housing law, including the Fair Housing Act (“FHA”) and state/local fair housing statutes, as a tool to provide legal protections to workers with employer-provided housing (“live-in workers”) who experience sexual harassment or violence in the workplace. There is currently very little case law in which live-in workers have brought fair housing and employment discrimination claims simultaneously, and functionally no case law in which attorneys have brought both claims for live-in worker sexual harassment cases. This Note argues that, under existing fair housing law, many live-in workers should be eligible to bring claims under the FHA and equivalent state laws that prohibit discrimination in housing. As a result, the FHA and equivalent state claims can provide sexual harassment and assault protections for workers, including domestic workers and farmworkers, who may not receive protections under federal or state employment discrimination law. Furthermore, this Note argues that the FHA can provide supplemental or stronger protections from sexual harassment for live-in workers than traditional Title VII or employment discrimination claims. It accordingly suggests that plaintiffs facing harassment or sexual assault in live-in industries should pursue fair housing claims in addition to or in place of Title VII and employment discrimination claims, in order to achieve maximum protection and relief.

Inclusion and beauty pageants? The Filipino migrant worker community in Israel

Beauty pageants held by immigrant groups in their host country, or diasporic beauty contests, are a fascinating global phenomenon. While previous studies have mainly explored this practice within permanently settled immigrant communities, there is a dearth of research regarding beauty contests in communities of migrant workers. Based on a seven- year fieldwork in the Filipino community in Israel, this study asks why beauty pageants have become such a prominent event among migrant workers employed as live-in caregivers. Involving candidates from both genders, these events were found significant for migrant workers at the personal, communal and transnational level. The uniqueness of these pageants lies in their inclusive effect, as it is expressed on every level. Unlike the construction of a Western ideal of gendered beauty from which the majority is excluded, diasporic beauty contests offer every migrant worker the opportunity to participate. Thus, becoming a platform for social inclusion and allowing live-in migrant workers to become visible and respectable.

Home experiences and homemaking practices of single Syrian refugees in an innovative housing project in Amsterdam

Recent socio-political situations in the Middle East and elsewhere have resulted in a large number of refugees searching for new places to settle. To understand how a new place could become a home, the authors conducted qualitative research in the Netherlands. The study looked at the home experiences and (micro)homemaking practices of young Syrian refugees in an innovative housing project in Amsterdam. In this project, Dutch and Syrian young adults are housed together to foster integration. This article also looks at Boccagni’s model for understanding immigrant live-in workers’ homes. The authors further develop the model by introducing a mobility lens, which offers the possibility of elaborating on theoretical notions between now-and-then and here-and-there and the empirical findings derived from this study.

The work-life experiences of an invisible workforce

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the work-life (WL) experiences of live-in women migrant domestic workers (MDWs), who represent a significant proportion of migrant workers globally. MDWs play a key role in enabling the work-life balance (WLB) of others, namely the middle-class households that employ them. Yet, their experiences have largely been invisible in mainstream WL literature. The authors draw on an intersectional approach to frame the WL experiences of this marginalized group of women at the intersection of being secondary labour segment workers, with significant legal and employment restrictions as migrant workers, who work and live in the same place as their employers. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative interviews were conducted with 13 women MDWs from Indonesia and the Philippines working in Malaysia. The women talked about the meaning of work as MDWs, how they maintain familial connections whilst working abroad, and how they negotiate their WLB as live-in workers. Thematic analysis of the interviews focused on the intersection of the women’s multiple dimensions of disadvantage, including gender, class and temporary migrant-foreigner status, in shaping their accounts of the WL interface. Findings Three thematic narratives highlight that any semblance of WLB in the MDWs’ lived experience has given way to the needs of their employers and to the imperative to earn an income for their families back home. The themes are: working as MDWs enables the women and their families back home to have a life; the co-existence of WL boundary segmentation and integration in relation to “real” and “temporary” families; and the notion of WLB being centred around the women’s ability to fulfil their multiple duties as MDWs and absent mothers/sisters/daughters. Research limitations/implications The study is based on a small sample of live-in women MDWs in Malaysia, intended to promote typically excluded voices and not to provide generalizable findings. Accessing potential participants was a considerable challenge, given the vulnerable positions of women MDWs and the invisible nature of their work. Practical implications Future research should adopt a multi-stakeholder approach to studying the WL experiences of women MDWs. In particular, links with non-governmental organizations who work directly with women MDWs should be established as a way of improving future participant access. Social implications The study underscores the existence of policies and regulations that tolerate and uphold social inequalities that benefit primary labour segment workers to the detriment of secondary labour segment workers, including women MDWs. Originality/value Extant WL literature is dominated by the experiences of “the ideal work-life balancers”, who tend to be white middle-class women, engaged in professional work. This study offers original contribution by giving voice to a taken-for-granted group of women migrant workers who make other people’s WLB possible. Moreover, the study challenges WL research by underscoring the power inequities that shape the participants’ marginal and disadvantaged lived experience of work, life, family and WLB.

Demand for Domestic Workers in India: Its Characteristics and Correlates

This paper is an attempt towards analysing the demand for domestic workers specifically in urban India, wherein we intend to verify a range of hypotheses pertaining to demand for domestic workers in urban households. The analysis exploits the information obtained in Unemployment and Employment Survey and Consumption Expenditure Survey provided by the National Sample Survey Organisation, to assess the significance of domestic work and to characterise the demand for domestic workers across Indian states. We supplement the discussion with insights from a micro-level enquiry. While it may be otherwise understood that rising economic affluence is the driving force behind this phenomenon, a critical analysis at the household level indicates the complex dynamic of economic affluence and rising dependency determines engagement of domestic workers in urban Indian households. A micro-level study conducted in the National Capital Region throws further light on the nature of demand for domestic workers in urban areas. A survey among employers reveals that employment of domestic workers has been customary for a class of population. However, other household characteristics like women’s employment and life cycle of a household also shape the demand for a domestic worker. Nature of employment, broadly categorised as live-out/day work or live-in work, is also observed to be influenced by economic class and household specific needs.

One's Workplace, Other's Home? Work and Health of Domestic Workers in Argentina.

Background:Domestic workers around the world work and eventually live in private homes where control of working conditions is difficult.Objective:The aim of this study was to compare working conditions and its impact on general and mental health in live-in and live-out domestic workers in Argentina.Methods:In a cross-sectional study, the Spanish version of the European Workings Condition Survey and an ad hoc questionnaire were applied to 201 domestic workers (response 94%). Twelve months’ prevalence of verbal or physical workplace violence was assessed. Poor general health was defined by general health self-assessed as poor or fair. Symptoms of common mental disorders (CMD) were considered present if Goldberg’s general health score was above 4. Data were analyzed using Chi square’s test and logistic regression models.Findings:Live-in workers formed 66% of the participants. They were more likely to take care of the elderly, iron and cook than live-out workers. Workplace violence was reported by 17% of live-in and 24% of live-out workers (p = 0.25). Overall prevalence of poor general health was 23%; 53% reported CMD. After adjustment, violence remained a statistically significant predictor of poor general health (Odds Ratio 7.3; 95% Confidence Interval 2.8–19.1) and CMD (3.2; 1.1–9.3).Conclusions:Working conditions of live-in and live-out domestic workers are different. However, exposure to workplace violence is common in both groups and affects general and mental health.

The spatial dimension of agency: the everyday urban practices of Filipina domestic workers in Amman, Jordan

This article examines the strategies that Filipina migrant domestic workers in Jordan have developed to create new opportunities within the restrictive Kafala migration system. Based on short-term live-in contracts, the Kafala system tends to confine migrant women to employers’ homes, thus restricting their access to urban amenities and limiting their interactions with co-ethnics. However, Filipina migrant domestic workers transform temporary migration into a longer-term experience by increasing their knowledge of the city and going from live-in workers to live-out or freelance workers. This article contributes to understandings of migrant women’s agency by considering the spatial construction of agency in urban spaces. I argue that space and agency are entwined. In order to highlight the spatial dimension of agency, I use the concept of ‘regime of visibility’ to show how migrant women make their agency visible to others by accessing public spaces. Connecting agency with regimes of visibility allows me to question the place and role of migrant women in urban public spaces. Especially, I analyze that tensions in public spaces are not merely a reaction to the presence of women, but are also intended to prevent the visibility of individual agency.

At home in home care? Contents and boundaries of the ‘domestic’ among immigrant live-in workers in Italy

How ‘at home’, if at all, migrants feel in their everyday lives abroad is a neglected research issue, with meaningful implications for immigrant, social and housing policies. Their employment as live-in care workers with elderly clients is a unique site to address it, as this article aims to do, based on an archive of life histories of immigrant women in Italy. Co-residential domestic work foregrounds migrants’ need for a domestic space of their own, within the place of someone else. Building on immigrant women’s narratives, I explore what senses and dimensions of domesticity, or even of home, are negotiated in their routine interactions with older clients and the latter’s family members. Within a dwelling place which conflates work and domesticity, the cognitive, emotional and practical dimensions of migrants’ gendered home experience are nothing obvious. How is home-making – as a set of practices oriented to pursue security, familiarity and control – enacted under these circumstances? Is the cultivation of a sense of home beneficial to the clients only, or do immigrant women themselves feel at home somehow? Different ‘modes of domesticity’ are discussed, at the intersection between continuous expectations of home-making and discontinuous ways of feeling at home.

Short-term circular migration and gendered negotiation of the right to the city: The case of migrant live-in care workers in Basel, Switzerland

This article focuses on live-in elder care workers in German-speaking Switzerland, with a focus on the city of Basel. Working with the Lefebvrian concept of le droit à la ville, it critically investigates the extent to which circularly migrating women can negotiate their right to the city when working as private 24-hour carers in Basel. It first discusses how the Swiss migration and labor regimes in this gendered field of work affect their rights, access, belonging, and participation in the city. The article then analyzes two examples of how live-in care workers challenge existing regulations individually and collectively, and instigate changes at the level of the city. Exploring the idea of participation beyond formal recognition such as residency and citizenship, the paper critically reflects on the right-to-the-city debate's key concept of inhabitance. Focusing on women who – as circular migrants – only reside in Switzerland for a few weeks at a time and who – as live-in workers – are often isolated in private households, the paper argues that work arrangements and mobility are key to understanding inhabitants' right to the city.

The Careers of Migrant Domestic Workers in Greece: Perceptions of Intra-Occupational Mobility and Status Differentiation in Times of Crisis

This article examines the effects of the current recession in Greece on the careers of migrant domestic workers by tracing the changes in the way they understand their occupational and socioeconomic situation during the crisis. Through a comparative analysis, it is argued that the lack of career-track options for these domestic servants has complex ramifications that affect their perception of both themselves and their place in society. The findings indicate that the recession has triggered a negative shift in their workplace responsibilities and the tasks they are asked to perform. This study examines the qualitative aspects of their careers, highlighting a reversal in the values held by live-in and live-out domestic workers, as well as decreasing levels of discretion, intra-occupational mobility, and life expectations. Despite these changes for the worse, however, domestic workers remain deeply rooted in a framework of thought and action that only strengthens the negative tendencies of inter-occupational mobility, especially for those that cannot dissociate their self-images from the context of domestic work.

Whose Right Is It Anyway? Familiarity with Workers’ Rights Among Older Adults, Family Caregivers, and Migrant Live-In Home Care Workers: Implications for Policy and Practice

Live-in home care provided to older adults blurs the boundaries between private and professional, personal and public matters, and working hours versus off-duty time. As a result, live-in home care workers are at risk for exploitation. The present study examines the extent to which older adults, family members, and migrant live-in care workers are familiar with the rights of migrant live-in care workers. A random stratified sample of adults over the age of 70 who receive home care services was conducted. Overall, 338 migrant live-in care workers, 224 older adults, and 442 family members were interviewed and asked about their knowledge regarding 10 basic migrant live-in workers’ rights. Moderate levels of knowledge regarding migrant live-in care workers’ rights were found. On average, older adults were aware of 4.22 workers’ rights (out of a possible number of 10 rights), whereas family members and migrant live-in care workers were aware of 7.77 and 7.34 rights, respectively. No more than 4% of older adults, 18% of family members, and 10% of migrant live-in care workers were aware of all 10 workers’ rights. It seems that whereas some rights regarding social benefits were well acknowledged, core issues related to the job and to the status of migrant care workers remain unclear. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.

Historians, Social Scientists, Servants, and Domestic Workers: Fifty Years of Research on Domestic and Care Work

AbstractHistorical research on domestic servants has a long tradition. Research, however, has become more systematic from the 1960s onwards thanks to social historians, historians focusing on the family, historical demographers and (particularly from the 1970s) women's and gender historians. For a long time, scholars assumed that domestic service (especially by live-in workers) would decline, or even disappear, because of household modernization, social progress, and development of the welfare state. The (largely unexpected) “revival” of paid domestic and care work in the past three decades has prompted sociologists and other social scientists to focus on the theme, opening new opportunities for exchange between historians and social scientists. This article provides a review of the research on these issues at a global level, though with a focus on Europe and the (former) European colonies, over the past fifty years, illustrating the different approaches and their results.

From “Balcony Talk” and “Practical Prayers” to Illegal Collectives

In this study I highlight the spatial exclusions that migrant domestic workers (MDWs) experience in Lebanon. I argue that migrant domestic workers constantly challenge such spatial exclusions by using the exact spaces that they are excluded from as the bases for a meso-level of resistances—strategic acts that cannot be classified as either private and individual or as organized collective action. I highlight three kinds of such resistive activities: the strategic dyads forged across balconies by the most restricted live-in workers, the small collectives formed outside ethnic churches by other live-in workers, and much larger worker collectives (that often cross national borders) in rental apartments occupied by illegal freelancers and runaways. By analyzing these spaces as strategic instances of workers’ collectives, I question the portrayal of MDWs in the Arab world as ultimate and defeated victims of abuse. But the continuum of resistive activities undertaken by MDWs in Lebanon also challenges the dichotomies often constructed between public (overt and organized) and private (individual and symbolic) forms of organization and resistances. This meso-level of resistance becomes particularly significant in a country like Lebanon, where MDWs are forbidden from forming or joining formal unions, and becomes critical for workers from many countries in Africa and South Asia who, unlike the larger Filipina community, have little access to formal support systems like consulates and embassies.

Estimating the Economic Impact of Repealing the FLSA Companion Care Exemption

Section 13(a)(15) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) exempts companion care providers from the FLSA’s minimum wage and overtime provisions, while Section 13(b)(21) exempts live-in workers from its overtime provisions. In December 2011, the Department of Labor proposed to substantially narrow both exemptions, and published a Preliminary Regulatory Impact Analysis (PRIA) which estimates the proposal would have a de minimis effect on both output and employment. We examine the PRIA in detail, and find that it systematically understates the direct costs of the proposed rule in terms of increased wages and various other compliance costs, and understates both the elasticity of demand for companion care labor and the elasticity of demand for companion care services. Specifically, we formally estimate the elasticity of demand for companion care labor, and find demand to be elastic (Ɛ = -1.18), which differs significantly from the PRIA’s estimate (which we show to be erroneous in any case) that demand is highly inelastic (Ɛ = -0.15). Our analysis suggests the deadweight losses from the proposal would far exceed the PRIA’s estimate, and that the costs of the proposal would likely exceed the benefits.

“Many Zitas”: The Young Catholic Worker and Household Workers in Cold War Chile

This article reconstructs the origins and effects of radical Catholic activism on the expansion of household workers' associations in Chile during the Cold War. Joining the efforts of local priests affiliated with the Juventud Obrera Católica (JOC) in the 1950s, a generation of live-in household workers in Santiago and other urban centers nurtured a sizable movement for empleadas domésticas that was unique in the Americas—the JOC de Empleadas—which joined housing and vocational services with a lay Catholic movement to advance empleadas' labor rights. Impacted by both the radicalization of their religious leadership and the revolutionary politics of the period, the Catholic household workers' movement of the 1960s turned increasingly to union organizing and legislative reform to advance its agenda, pressing for greater recognition and regulation of domestic service as a matter of labor rights. Through its focus on the Catholic Church as a transnational and hegemonic actor in the mobilization of household workers, and on the changing discourse of domestic service as “labor,” this article challenges the persistent stereotype of Latin American Catholicism in relation to workers' movements prior to Vatican II.

The making of ‘proper’ homes: Everyday practices in migrant domestic work in Naples

Changing from a country of emigration into one of immigration has been one of the major phenomena of Italian society in recent years. One of the realms where this has been most evident is in Italian households employing migrants for domestic service and care work. This article looks at domestic and care practices in the everyday life of a Neapolitan household. Based on participant observation conducted in Giuseppe's apartment, it shows how the traditional Neapolitan way of life can be maintained by employing a live-in worker. It discusses some of the contradictions and tensions involved in this kind of work, and, by looking at everyday life, it also questions depictions of vulnerable migrant workers at the mercy of their employers.

From the Kitchen to the Bedroom

Sexual harassment has been investigated mostly in developed countries. The authors examined frequency rates and consequences of sexual harassment among female domestic workers in Brazil. Twenty-six percent had been sexually harassed at work during the past year. Live-in workers were at significantly greater risk for experiencing sexual harassment than those residing in their own homes, when controlling for participants' age, race, and social class. Women residing in their employers' residences used more alcohol and drugs than their counterparts. Harassed women had significantly higher self-esteem impairment and anxiety and depression than nonharassed women. Nonharassed women residing in their own homes had the best physical well-being. Concerning participants' worst sexually harassing experiences, the perpetrators were likely to be men (75%), who also engaged in more severe types of sexual harassment than female perpetrators. The emotional reactions to such incidents were significantly more negative when perpetrated by men than by women. Implications for foreign in-home workers employed by Europeans and North Americans are discussed.

Client Satisfaction with Live-In and Live-Out Home Care Workers in Israel

In an era of globalization where the migration of long-term care workers is common, foreign live-in home care workers can compensate for the unavailability of family members and, perhaps, even substitute for institutional care in the provision of long-term care services to disabled older persons. This study examines differences in home care satisfaction between disabled older persons in Israel with “live-in” home care workers and those with “live-out” workers, and explores some differences in socio-demographic and personal characteristics between these two groups. Face-to-face interviews were held with a random sample of 93 older persons in Beer-Sheva. Older persons with live-in home care workers were more satisfied with their home care service than those with live-out workers. Those with live-in workers were more severely disabled, tended not to have any children living in close proximity, although an adult child was available as an informal caregiver. Communication difficulties between the elderly persons and their home care workers were found not to affect negatively the satisfaction with the service.