A new study from the Cologne Institute for Economic Research provided recent statistics on illegal household help and economist Dominik Enste actually views 80 percent as a “positive surprise.” He told General Anzeiger, “In 2005, it was 93 percent.” Many cleaners decide for themselves to not register with authorities. They have health insurance through their spouse and they can do several jobs at the same time. “Because of that, it’s difficult for private households to find someone to work legally,” he said.

Official cleaning services like “Staubfänger” are becoming more common these days, however, and this has probably contributed to the decreased number of illegal workers. Pint says that many customers were shocked by her prices at first glance. It costs 18.50 euros per hour plus taxes. Those employing non-registered cleaners normally pay much less. “In big cities, the going rate is ten to twelve euros per hour and in rural areas, eight to ten euros an hour,” says Enste. He doesn’t see a big cost savings by employing illegal help because at the end of the day, it doesn’t add up to a big savings and legal help is ha the benefit of being tax deductible.

Of the approximate 3.6 million households which had household help in 2015, social taxes were only paid for 47,000 of them. 300,000 were registered with the Minijob-Zentrale (Mini job central registration) and 20,000 were self-employed. That leaves between 2.67 and three million household help working illegally. Employers of illegal workers can face stiff fines. To register cleaning help, one can click here. The website is only in German. If GA-English readers have further information which could be useful, please feel free to share under “comments.”

(Orig. text: Nadine Klees, ck)