With Dare to Share: Germany’s Experience Promoting Equal Partnership in Families (OECD, 2017[1]) and Good Practice for Good Jobs in Early Childhood Education and Care (OECD, 2019[2]) the OECD Social Policy Division previously explored issues around parental care for children and the quality of formal childcare arrangements. This report is the first project in the OECD Social Policy Division that focuses on the area of domestic services, and policies that are geared towards the formalisation of non-care work.
Following increasing female employment rates and widespread informality, policies in the non-care household service sector have become important instruments to help families combine their careers with their housework burden. However, international approaches differ markedly in their impact on reducing the incidence of informal work arrangements and boosting employment among low-skilled and unemployed workers and this report analyses and compares the approaches in five countries with extensive policies: Belgium, Finland, France, Germany and Sweden.
This report was written by Willem Adema and Jonas Fluchtmann (OECD Social Policy Division) under the supervision of Monika Queisser (Senior Counsellor, Head of the OECD Social Policy Division). Liv Gudmundson prepared the report for publication, with Lucy Hulett, Fatima Perez and Jayne Maddock providing further logistical, publication and communications support. The OECD gratefully acknowledges the financial support by the German Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth towards the preparation of this study.
The analysis benefitted from inputs and insights from the participants of the OECD expert consultation on the formalisation of non-care household services. Special thanks to Clément Carbonnier (Université Paris 8), Karin Halldén (Stockholm University), Ive Marx (University of Antwerp), Holger Bonin (IZA Bonn), Jarkko Harju (Tampere University), Nuria Ramos Martín (University of Amsterdam) and Thomas Fischer (German Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth). We also thank Jorrit Zwijnenburg (OECD Statistics and Data Directorate) and Peter van de Ven (previously OECD Statistics and Data Directorate) for their guidance in estimating the economic value of unpaid housework. We are further grateful for comments provided by Aurélie Decker (European Federation for Services to Individuals), Julien Freund (Sodexo), Stijn Broecke (OECD Skills and Employability Division) and Monika Queisser (Senior Counsellor, Head of the OECD Social Policy Division).