Domestic workers clean homes, cook meals, and care for children and other people. A UN report says four in five lack formal protection at work. They often lack formal protections for their rights at work and access to support. They are more than twice as likely as other workers to lack this protection.
About 80 million people did this work around the world in 2025. Women made up 77.2 percent of them. Domestic workers earned just over half as much money each month as other workers. Domestic workers in informal jobs earned even less: 48.7 percent of other workers’ pay.
The difference in pay has grown since 2019. More than one in three domestic workers worked at least 49 hours a week. Almost 15 percent worked 60 hours or more. Others had too few hours and had to work in several homes to earn enough money to live.
There has also been some progress since 2019. Among countries with figures that researchers can compare, more than half have reduced the share of domestic workers without formal protection. Forty countries have formally agreed to follow international rules for better working conditions for domestic workers. The UN says these workers deserve the same rights and protection as other workers.
