La construcción social del mercado laboral doméstico en España a comienzos del siglo XXI

Abstract

Spain is the European Union country which has the highest number of domestic workers. It is also the place\rwhere domestic work has increased the most in recent years. Between 1998 and 2007, the growth in this\rlabor sector has been so spectacular that the number of domestic workers even doubled. The reasons for this\rdevelopment can be grouped in different factors: structural factors, such as the inequality of income\rdistribution and characteristics of the labor market; contextual factors, such as the Immigration Law and\rother laws of domestic work; and institutional arrangements, like the type of management that different\rentities perform to mediate between job demands and supplies. The empirical research on the work of\rmediation for accessing domestic work shows the way of construction of this labor market, in which there\rare practices that go beyond conventional uses. In addition to the training requirements, qualifications or\rexperience, that are usually asked when seeking employment, it explores personal attributes or conditions\routside of the work of the applicants. The formalization of the contractual relationship often depends more\ron these characteristics than of other professional qualities