A private business. Labour brokering and domestic work: Opportunities and challenges

This paper examines the role of formal Labor Market Intermediaries (LMIs) in the private domestic work market in Italy, focusing on private for-profit agencies and not-for-profit cooperatives. It explores whether LMIs can improve working conditions by formalizing domestic work, thereby mitigating the negative effects of Italy’s familistic welfare system, which currently has a high informality rate (53.4%). While LMIs have the potential to structure and manage domestic work, reducing households’ direct responsibility, regulatory shortcomings, cost-cutting strategies, and ineffective laws create "grey zones" where informality persists even within formal intermediaries. The study outlines the theoretical framework, differences among LMIs, their role in elderly and childcare services, research methodology, and empirical findings, ultimately assessing their effectiveness in improving labor conditions in the sector.