domestic service

Paid employment in the household of another person, as maid, butler, cook, gardener, and so on. It is traditionally a poorly paid occupation, reserved for those without other job skills. The social and economic conditions of the 20th century, and the introduction of labour-saving technology, have narrowed this field of employment, and work by domestic cleaners, baby-sitters, and au pairs in the West is mostly part-time and unregulated. In the USA, undocumented foreign workers constitute a large proportion of domestic workers.

Following the Civil War, many freed slaves found domestic work preferable to working in the fields. As factory and industrial jobs became widely available, blacks moved out of this labor pool, to be replaced by illegal aliens. Few US households use full-time or live-in household help.