Due to increasing participation of women’s economic activities and rapid transition to an aging society, labor demand for low-value-added service industries such as household service demand and care services is increasing. Along with changes in population, household structure and consumption behavior with the spread of digital technology, the domestic service market has expanded. Traditional domestic service market is moving to a platform market while demand and supply have decreased.

Household workers refer to workers classified as caring workers working in a household or home. According to the Convention Concerning Decent Work For Domestic Worker, domestic workers are those who provide various services in the home, including domestic helpers, babysitters and maternal helpers. They include official household workers (baby sitters, maternal assistants) and informal workers (household assistants). On May 21, 2021, the Household Workers Act was enacted by the National Assembly. It will take effect a year later. The purpose of this law is to cover informal workers who are not covered by other laws.

This study conducted a survey on household service users and workers. Workers wanted stable jobs and demanded a social safety net. However, household service workers have different types of work, desired work and contract methods, making it difficult to hiring them by direct employment. Therefore, the key is whether they can build a career path with their career experiences and abilities. On the other hand, focusing on improving employment increases market unit price. As a result of the user survey, there were concerns about an increase in cost due to the enactment of the Household Workers Act and the expansion of direct employment.

It is necessary to support domestic service users in Seoul at the level of work-family balance. It is also important to give benefits to workers among household service users for their work life balance. For dual-income workers in excellent SMEs, multi-child households or households with babies, support should be provided without income restrictions. In order to improve the employment of workers, a method of direct employment through the Social Service Institute is proposed. Alternatively, one can consider setting the wage level for each grade by benchmarking the construction worker functional rating system.