Household Workers

For centuries, the size of a person's household staff was a measure of wealth and status. Although this may be true today to some extent, demand for household help has also been spurred by the rise in the general standard of living for most Americans and the increasing role of women in the workforce. Even families of modest means can often afford to hire help for a few hours to assist with cleaning or a caretaker to do household and garden maintenance on occasion. In the past, household work in the United States was often considered the first work-step on the economic ladder for immigrant families. Now the sons and daughters of those immigrant workers run many of the agencies that operate household services businesses.