Secondary Labor Markets and Immigration: Domestic Service in the U.S.

Abstract

Domestic service is one of the secondary labor markets that have grown in
the context of globalization. Its dynamism is linked to the demand for cheap
female labor to satisfy needs within the sphere of domestic reproduction. The
characterization of the U.S. domestic service labor market in the early 21st
century on the basis of survey data shows that (now as in the past) its growth
is based mainly on the infl ux of immigrant labor, nowadays mainly from Latin
America. Domestic workers’ poverty levels, coupled with their low educational
achievement, merely corroborate the fact that the growth of this labor
market in developed societies is yet another of the regressive consequences
observed in the world of work within the context of globalization.