Domestic JobsCategory: Business
Article posted by: Jon Richards
The Concise Oxford English Dictionary defines ‘domestic’ as ‘of or relating to a home or
family affairs or relationship’ and ‘of or for use in the home’. A domestic worker or
domestic help is defined as ‘a person employed to do domestic tasks’. Cleaning work
may take place outside the home, such as in schools, offices or factories. Domestic work
may involve tasks other than cleaning, for example making a bed or doing shopping.
According to Office for National Statistic (‘ONS’) figures for April to June 2009,
approximately 603,000 people were employed under the category of ‘cleaners
domestics’. This breaks down as follows:
Employees â€" 535,000, of which 374,000 were part time.
Self â€" employed â€" 67,000 of which 44,000 were part-time.
‘Cleaners/domestics’ were listed under ‘elementary cleaning services which included
window cleaners, road sweepers, launderers/dry cleaners/pressers, refuse and salvage
occupations and ‘elementary cleaning occupations not elsewhere classified’. No other
categories of work were found under the heading ‘domestic’ but one other cleaning
occupation is mentioned ‘industrial cleaning process occupations’, which
includes the cleaning of machinery.
Cleaning and domestic work do not have a glamorous image, and until recently cleaning
work was fairly easy to obtain. It is an exaggeration to say that cleaners have completed
application forms asking:
a. What is your name (we can assist you with this question)? and
b. How soon can you start work?
However it was difficult to attract staff and application forms had to be simple. The
recession will have eased the problem for employers, but cleaning work is fairly
recession-proof. Buildings need to be cleaned, recession or no-recession.
Figures for the numbers working as ‘domestics’ in private homes are difficult to
obtain, firstly because much of this work is casual and temporary. Secondly many
migrant people are employed as domestics, some illegally, particularly where
‘human trafficking’ is involved - a Rowntree Foundation report of 2007 highlights the
problem. No doubt this issue will receive police attention over the next few years.
Nevertheless many domestic workers have had good experiences, and this work has
funded many holidays in the UK, particularly for young people.
Posted By: Jon Richards
Web: http://www.bristoljobs.co.uk
Contact: e-mail
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