Wages

Remuneration for domestic workers tends to be among the lowest in the labour market.  Such low wages are driven by the lack of recognition of domestic work as real work, and exclusion from minimum wage protections. ILO Convention 189, Art 11, states that domestic workers should be paid directly in cash, regularly, with strict limits on payments in kind in conditions not less favourable than those generally applicable to other workers. To help constituents implement the principles of these articles, the ILO has been engaged in research around remuneration, consolidated in the following resources.

Key resources:

• Minimum wage policy guide (Chapter 8)
• Remuneration in domestic work, Domestic Work Policy Brief No. 1
• The Long Journey Home: The Contested Exclusion and Inclusion of Domestic Workers from Federal Wage and Hour Protection in the United States, Working Paper
• Minimum wage setting practices in domestic work : An inter-state analysis of India, Working Paper
• Domestic work, wages, and gender equality: Lessons from developing countries, Working Paper