Regular employers on the rise
The number of domestic employers in good standing increased by 13.3% from 2019 to 2021, as revealed by the fourth “Annual report on domestic work in Italy 2022” edited by the employers’ association Domina, which will be presented in Rome on Friday 20 January (see the map on the page). There are over one million employers of domestic cleaners, babysitters and carers known to INPS, with a growth over the three-year period of 18.3% in Lombardy but reaching 34.2% in Puglia. A boost to the emergence of domestic work relationships came from the regularization of non-EU workers launched in 2020, but the increase does not cover the entire range of families who make use of collaborators. Among employers, there are over 100,000 severely disabled people, up by 8.4% between 2019 and 2021.
The average monthly salary of domestic workers, who are 70% foreigners, is 962 euros for Italians and 911 euros for foreigners.
Salary negotiation
The third and last one will be held today, January 16, at the Ministry of Labour meeting between employers’ associations and trade unions in the domestic sector to establish the 2023 wage adjustments. In the absence of an agreement between the parties, the adjustment of minimum hourly wages will be equal to 80% of inflation, therefore with increases of more than 9% compared to 2022.
A situation that could have serious effects on families, as the companies that deal with administration in the domestic sector have denounced. «Certainly the National Collective Labor Agreement for domestic work – explains Danilo Arcaini, commercial director of Family Care – must recognize in terms of wages the effort that active workers make in a delicate sector such as assistance. However – he adds – we must not forget the impact that the increases will have on families, with a transition from increases of a few euros in past years to this increase, above all without gradualness ». The way to keep the wage protection of workers and that of employers together could be precisely greater economic support for families “for example – continues Arcaini – introducing the total deduction of expenses incurred”.
“The percentage of deductions and deductions from the cost of home care in Italy is among the lowest in Europe and does not actually contribute to reducing costs for families,” explains Pierluigi Morelli, president of the Serenità employment agency. “The Government has introduced a monthly contribution parameterized to ISEE into the National Plan for the fight against undeclared work, but the times, amounts and methods of disbursement are not yet known”.
