Increasing number of elderly people but decreasing regular domestic work: -7.6% in 2023
According to a report by Inps and New Collaboration, in 2023 there were 833,874 regular domestic helpers and carers, almost 70,000 fewer than in 2022, which had already marked a decrease of 7.3 per cent on 2021
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The progressive ageing of the population drives the demand for domestic work, but the undeclared workers benefit. The Inps recorded a drop in the number of contributing domestic workers in 2023: they were 833,874, down 7.6% on 2022 (-68,327 workers). It should be noted that 2022 was also archived with a drop on the previous year (-7.3%). The last two years bucked the trend compared to 2020-2021, when in the wake of Covid the regularisation of labour relations was almost a necessity to allow domestic workers to go to work during the lockdown, but also thanks to the push of the Relaunch decree that regulated the emersion of irregular labour relations (Decree no. 34 of 2020).
A report by Inps and Nuova collaborazione on the evolution of domestic work in Italy 50 years after the first national contract shows that the decline in regular domestic work since 2022 is similar between males and females, although the gender composition shows a clear predominance of females: the weight of females in the total is 88.6%.
From domestic helpers - 10.5%, for carers - 4.4%
In 2023, the number of carers showed a decrease of -4.4% compared to the previous year, affecting almost all areas of origin, with the largest decrease affecting workers from North America (-21.1%). More important was the decrease in domestic helpers (-10.5%), which particularly affected workers from North Africa (-33.0%) and East Asia (-26.2%), while the smallest decrease was recorded by those from the Philippines (-4.5%).
By type of employment, domestic helpers prevailed, accounting for 50.4 per cent of all workers in 2023, compared to 49.6 per cent for carers; ten years ago, domestic helpers accounted for 59.2 per cent of workers.
The domestic helpers type is prevalent among Italian workers and almost all foreign workers, with the exception of those from Eastern Europe, Middle East Asia, North Africa and Central America, where the carer type prevails.
