Domestic workers are three times as likely to be in poverty and almost three times as likely to lack enough income to make ends meet: Poverty rates and twice-poverty rates of domestic workers versus other workers, 2018
| Rate | |
|---|---|
| Domestic workers | 16.8% |
| All other workers | 5.0% |
| House cleaners | 25.4% |
| Nannies | 20.1% |
| Child care (in own home) | 13.3% |
| Home care (non-agency) | 14.2% |
| Home care (agency-based) | 15.1% |
| Domestic workers | 44.3% |
| All other workers | 16.9% |
| House cleaners | 54.8% |
| Nannies | 39.0% |
| Child care (in own home) | 32.4% |
| Home care (non-agency) | 36.4% |
| Home care (agency-based) | 45.8% |
Notes: The poverty rate is the share of workers whose family income is below the official poverty line. The twice-poverty rate is the share of workers whose family income is below twice the official poverty line. Since poverty thresholds set in the 1960s have not evolved to reflect changing shares of spending on various necessities by low-income families, researchers often use the twice-poverty rate as a better cutoff for whether a family is able to make ends meet. To ensure sufficient sample sizes, this figure draws from pooled 2016–2018 microdata.
Source: Economic Policy Institute (EPI) analysis of Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement microdata