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Can working and employment conditions in the personal services sector be improved?

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  • Franck Bailly
  • François-Xavier Devetter
  • François Horn

Abstract

Personal services have attracted considerable attention from policy makers in France, with a view to achieving two objectives: creating jobs and reintegrating those individuals furthest removed from the labour market. Attempts to achieve these objectives have tended to emphasise job quantity at the expense of job quality, which, despite the avowed efforts of employers and regulators, remains poor. How can this discrepancy be explained? The article analyses the series of mechanisms at work. While some of these mechanisms are the same as those at work in all personal services, others vary according to the activity in question. Care activities, for example, are caught up in a 'vicious circle', while those employed in domestic services are caught in a 'precarity trap'. The fact that these two areas of activity belong to different 'worlds of production' means that the prospects for improving job quality are greater in one (care activities) than in the other. Copyright , Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Franck Bailly & François-Xavier Devetter & François Horn, 2013. "Can working and employment conditions in the personal services sector be improved?," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 37(2), pages 299-321.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:cambje:v:37:y:2013:i:2:p:299-321
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/cje/bes071
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Clément Carbonnier & Bruno Palier & Michaël Zemmour, 2016. "Tax cuts or social investment? Evaluating the opportunity cost of French employment strategy," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 40(6), pages 1687-1705.
    2. Leduc, Elisabeth & Tojerow, Ilan, 2020. "Subsidizing Domestic Services as a Tool to Fight Unemployment: Effectiveness and Hidden Costs," IZA Discussion Papers 13544, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Florence Gallois & Martino Nieddu, 2014. "Centralisme marchand versus bricolage territorial ? Le plan Borloo face à la réalité des services à la personne," Working Papers halshs-00952287, HAL.
    4. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/18k79jk7138279qstaf2rdulvu is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Stephanie Reitzinger & Astrid Pennerstorfer, 2021. "The size–growth relationship in the social services sector in Austria," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 15(3), pages 445-466, September.
    6. Gallois, Florence & Nieddu, Martino, 2015. "Quand l’État décrète le marché : le cas du Plan Borloo," Revue de la Régulation - Capitalisme, institutions, pouvoirs, Association Recherche et Régulation, vol. 17.
    7. Placide Abasabanye & Franck Bailly & François-Xavier Devetter, 2018. "Does Contact Between Employees and Service Recipients Lead to Socially More Responsible Behaviours? The Case of Cleaning," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(3), pages 813-824, December.
    8. Clément Carbonnier & Bruno Palier & Michael Zemmour, 2014. "Tax cuts or social investment? Evaluating the opportunity cost of the French employment strategy," Sciences Po publications 31, Sciences Po.

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