Housekeepers and carers: the number of domestic workers registered with INPS is falling, but wages are rising: +2.1%

In 2025 domestic workers who had paid at least one contribution to INPS numbered 804.464, down for the fourth consecutive year (-2.3% compared with 2024). On the other hand, wages are on the rise: the average wage for domestic workers and carers is on an upward trend and in 2025 stood at €8,019 (+2.1% compared with 2024). This is the picture that emerges from the latest update of the Domestic Workers Observatory compiled by INPS.

Following the increases recorded in the two-year period 2020–2021, due to voluntary regularisation linked to the lockdown and the decree on the regularisation of irregular employment relationships (Decree-Law No. 34 of 19 May 2020 – the ‘Relaunch’ decree), a loss of approximately 173,000 workers. The downward trend in the total number of domestic workers is greater among women (-2.4%) than among men (-1.5%), but the gender breakdown shows a clear predominance of women: the proportion of women in 2025 will stand at 88.7 per cent – a level typical of the pre-pandemic years – whilst that of men will be 11.3 per cent. In absolute terms, there will be 713,538 women and 90,926 men.

The North-West is the geographical area with the highest number of domestic workers (30.7 per cent), followed by the Centre with 27.7 per cent, the North-East with 19.9 per cent, the South with 12.1 per cent and the Islands with 9.6 per cent. The region with the highest number of domestic workers is Lombardy, with 156,316 workers (19.4 per cent), followed by Lazio (14.1 per cent), Tuscany (8.9 per cent) and Emilia-Romagna (8.6 per cent). Just over half of Italia’s domestic workers are concentrated in these four regions.

The breakdown of the workforce by nationality shows a high proportion of foreign workers (68.9% of the total), although the downward trend that began in 2022 continues. Lombardy, with around 125,000 workers, is the region with the highest number of foreign workers, followed by Lazio (around 91,000) and Emilia-Romagna (around 55,000). In these regions, the proportion of foreign workers stands at 80%, whilst Sardinia brings up the rear with a proportion of 18%. Over the three-year period 2023–2025, the number of foreign workers fell by 4%, whilst the decline in the number of Italian workers was slightly greater, at -5%. The change in the workforce in 2025 compared with 2024 is -3.7% for Italians and -1.6% for foreign workers. The majority of domestic workers come from Eastern Europe, with 269,098 workers, accounting for 33.5% of the total; followed by workers of Italian nationality, numbering 250,368 and accounting for 31.1 per cent, then those from South America (9.0 per cent) and those from the Philippines (7.5 per cent).

In 2025, the proportion of workers in the ‘Caregivers’ category stood at 51.3 per cent, confirming its dominance – first observed in 2024 – over the ‘Domestic Workers’ category (48.7 per cent). The ‘domestic help’ category is the most common among Italian workers and almost all foreign workers, with the exception of those from Eastern Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and South and Central America, where the ‘caregiver’ category predominates.