Home, Family Employment and Home Care in the European Union

On March 6th, the European Federation for Family Employment and Homecare (EFFE) presented the European White Paper on ‘Home, family employment and home care in the European Union’ at the European Economic and Social Committee in Brussels. The White Paper intends to promote the sector of private home employment at a European scale and displays concrete paths for its further development with 10 specific proposals.

Home employment refers to a large range of activities which contribute to the well-being of families and persons in their home: child-care, caring for the elderly and the disabled, housekeeping, educational support, etc. In the sector of home employment between private individuals, a household finds an external response to its needs by employing a person at home, with the right skills matched with these needs.

The European White Paper intends to define, specify and promote the specific characteristics of this employment model, which provides answers to various economic, social and societal stakes in Europe.

EFFE’s aims is to ensure recognition of a European sector of home employment between private individuals, in which citizens define their needs and create their own solutions, choosing their employees freely, and creating jobs that generate social rights without gaining profit from them, as long as these jobs are declared. This sector offers virtuous solutions to meet social and economic challenges.

In Europe, the home employment sector statistics are quite poor, implying difficulties in measuring its importance and compromising its visibility. The European White Paper thus aims at explaining how the home employment sector in Europe can participate in the production of wealth in the Member States and become a major contributor to public policies resulting from the European Pillar of Social Rights.

Social Europe remains an evolving concept. There is no common social policy within the European Union. The EU can only set minimum rules that States are bound to respect (e.g. in terms of working time). The White Paper takes into account this coordination between different levels to develop its 10 proposals:

1. Highlight the economic weight and social stakes of home employment between citizens
2. Encourage a constructive European social dialogue on the family employment sector
3. Identify the specific characteristics of home employment in the definition of the regulations on social protection
4. Fight efficiently against undeclared work in the sector of home employment
5. Consider health and safety at work for domestic workers
6. Include the stakes of the home employment sector in the funding of the cohesion policy
7. Create favorable conditions for increasing the professional skills of the employees of the sector
8. Accompany digital inclusion and the development of collaborative platforms
9. Reinforce exchanges of good practices in Europe
10. Recognize the status of household employers and domestic workers

This Thursday (4 April 2019), a side event will be held at UN HQ in NYC to talk about the role of parents in social inclusion and overcoming inequalities, since parenting education is a key component for the cohesion, sustainability and inclusion of every family unit.

Source: IFFD