According to calculations by the German Economic Institute (IW), nine out of ten domestic helpers in Germany work illegally.
"Around 3.6 million households in Germany employ someone without officially registering the activity," quoted the editorial network Germany on Sunday from the analysis by the IW team led by Christina Anger and Dominik Ernste.
The scientists compared survey results with the number of reported employment relationships.
Missing safeguards
Mathematically, four million households are likely to use help – but the authorities are only aware of 400,000 corresponding jobs, 330,000 of them mini jobs.
According to Anger and Ernste, higher earners in particular use domestic help.
The average monthly income in households with help is 4800 euros - and is thus significantly higher than in households without help.
In households with people in need of care, significantly more domestic help is used than elsewhere.
Undeclared work entails risks, as Ernste and Anger warn: in addition to the risk of discovery, underhand workers would have to live with a lack of insurance protection and without social security.
A voucher system should remedy the situation: With this, the state would increase the salary of the household help.
This would create an incentive to register - "possibly without any significant fiscal effects," as Anger and Ernste emphasize.
According to them, the costs of the vouchers could be offset by reducing undeclared work and increasing employment for the clients of the household help.