The Power of Care: Paid Domestic Workers and Decent Work for Dignified Ageing

This study seeks to highlight the necessity of paid domestic care workers in the context of ageing populations in Asia, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region and its subregions. Asia is going through the demographic transition and it is becoming old. The working population must provide support not only to their dependent children but also to elderly individuals. Consequently, both men and women are compelled to participate in the labour market. Previously, care work was predominantly the responsibility of women within households; however, they are now increasingly entering the workforce to earn a livelihood. In this context they need to depend upon outside labour force for looking their old parents. This automatically increased the demand for paid domestic care workers. This paper provides an overview of the situation of both by the employer and employee in the new global scenario. Earlier this care work for elders is provided by the family members themselves but due to the changing labour market scenario members in upper- and middle-class family began to depend on paid domestic care workers. This paper is analysed within the framework of ILO’s Asia Pacific Employment Outlook 2024.The ILO calculations based on UN DESA Population Projections also used for the study. From this study it is clear that there is an increasing demand for paid domestic care workers and the present study emphasise the need for providing decent work the care workers for a dignified life of old people. This paper demonstrates that safeguarding the dignity of both the elderly population and workers can only be achieved through the provision of decent work. This paper aims to propose measures for enhancing the decent working conditions of this marginalized group. This study concentrates in Asia and Pacific region because the population aged 65 and above rising faster in these regions compared to the rest of the world.