Report data
According to the report ‘Housework and care in Catalonia’, more than 30,000 people worked in the field of home and care without a contract or Social Security registration in 2023. This represents more than a third of the 87,000 people employed in this sector.
Regarding the total number of female workers in the sector, it grew by 14% last year to 87,000 people employed. However, this growth in employment has been irregular, as there has been a fall in the number of Social Security affiliations (-0.6%) and in the number of new contracts (- 21%).
Causes of the increase in informality
The main causes of this increase in informality are the growing demand for care services, which is attended mostly by foreign women in an irregular administrative situation, and the lack of coverage by the administration to satisfy this demand.
Regarding labor rights in informal work, the working conditions and the rights of the workers depend on the contractual situation of each one. Nevertheless, even in an irregular situation, the law establishes that women workers have the same rights as if they had papers.
Challenges and advances
Although progress has been made in formalizing the sector, there are still many challenges in guaranteeing labor rights and improving working conditions for domestic and care workers.
