48% of Domestic Workers Are Paid Too Little to Support Their Family

Impact

The recent report on domestic workers released by the National Domestic Workers Alliance is the first national assessment of unregulated household labor, and its findings are alarming. Over 48% of workers are paid an hourly wage in their primary position below the level needed to adequately support a family. Perhaps even more disturbing is the lack of accountability for the employer of these workers: 30% of workers who have a written contract or other agreement report that their employers disregarded at least one of the provisions in the prior 12 months, but 91% of workers who encountered problems with their working conditions in the prior 12 months did not complain because they were afraid they would lose their job. It's also worth mentioning that the vast majority of domestic workers are women of color, a reflection of the feminization and racialization of jobs with little economic stability.  

What does not get covered in all of these statistics is the dehumanization that domestic workers face on a daily basis. Unlike labor in a factory or office, household work is deeply personal. Repetition injuries, contract violations, and disrespect from one's employer are part of the everyday indignities of domestic labor.  

Clearly the working conditions and economic provisions for domestic workers need to change. But how does one regulate the most unregulated industry when it's also one of the fastest-growing employment sectors in the United States?  

Hamilton Nolan at Gawker contends domestic workers need a union. I mean ... okay. In my commie opinion, more collective worker power is never a bad thing. However, the reality is far more complex than that. While it would be ideal for domestic workers to band together and demand better working conditions and a living wage based on their common goals, domestic work, by nature of the occupation, is socially isolating.  There is little opportunity in a domestic worker's daily routine to meet other domestic workers, let alone mobilize. 

As union organizer Ai-Jen Poo notes, "Their workplaces are scattered among thousands of individual apartments and town houses and no one keeps a list of their names." This is mitigated by major unions like the SEIU and AFSCME's reluctance to take on the daunting task of reaching out to such a scattered group, leaving the organizing of domestic workers to smaller, nonaffiliated unions like the Domestic Worker's Alliance, whose impressive grassroots mobilization is inspiring, though their membership is only a fraction of the number of the household laborers in the country.

But even successful collective organizing won't be a comprehensive solution for the woes of the domestic worker. Unionizing, and allowing domestic workers to organize, should be a policy priority, but it won't get the job done. Something far more expansive is needed in order to provide livable wages and working conditions for the estimated 800,000 domestic workers in the country.  

Perhaps the best solution to the problems faced by domestic workers is unfortunately the most politically unattractive, though it is the most expansively advantageous for all Americans. Immigration reform, raising the overall minimum wage, and the expansion of health care reform for low income workers, not exactly around the corner in terms of policy reform, are all critical to ensuring equitable quality of life for domestic workers.These measures also help to to solve the crisis in health care assistance for the elderly we will see as the American population grows older. The more we can ensure quality of employment for those working with the elderly, the greater their own quality of life will be.  

America's economy is increasingly moving away from industry towards a service economy. In the next 10 years, manufacturing jobs will become increasingly digitized and the private, unregulated workplace will become the norm. The plight of domestic workers is a battle that will be fought repeatedly in all: the negotiation of boundaries between the employee and the private, individual employer. By supporting the human rights and dignity of domestic workers, we are advocating for the rights of workers in all sectors for decades to come.