Bland Rolexklockor och smutsiga trosor: Om skattereduktioner och segmentering på den svenska hushållstjänstemarknaden

This report investigates tax reductions for domestic services in terms of their effects on the Swedish domestic service sector. Based on a national survey with managers of domestic ser-vice companies, the report discusses the composition of the formally registered market for domestic services, different types of customers, working conditions as well as consequences from tax reductions. By highlighting perspectives from formally registered companies, the re-port complements earlier research on experiences among migrant domestic workers in infor-mal parts of the market (Gavanas 2010, 2011). It is argued that the domestic service market is undergoing segmentation, as opposed to the commonplace idea that a formal sector is replac-ing an informal sector. The report demonstrates continuing competition from informal actors, and the lack of a necessary connection between a perceived decline of the informal market, the expansion of the formal market and continuing informal competition. Furthermore, the re-port discusses differences among domestic service companies regarding rights, positions of employees, working conditions and options to decline “difficult” customers. In addition to a continuum of providers of domestic services, a continuum of customers is analyzed as well. Customer preferences and demands are discussed, and the ways in which they are met by a corresponding continuum of domestic service providers.