abstract: 'Many European countries have implemented policies to revive their

  domestic service sectors. A common goal of these reforms has been to

  create employment for disadvantaged groups on the domestic labor market.

  I evaluate a Swedish policy where domestic service firms receive a 50\%

  tax deduction on labor costs. Detailed data from tax records identify

  all formal workers and owners of firms that receive deductions. I

  describe the composition of workers and owners in these firms with

  respect to three groups targeted by Swedish policymakers: refugees,

  people with low education, and people who enter the workforce from

  long-term unemployment. I find that the shares of refugees and long-term

  unemployed in the subsidized sector barely exceed the shares in the full

  private labor force, and fall far below the shares in industrial sectors

  with a predominance of elementary jobs. The share of people with low

  education is higher than in the full private sector and on par with

  other low-skilled sectors. I conclude that the tax subsidy largely

  failed to improve employment opportunities among the target groups. An

  extended analysis suggests that labor immigration from other EU

  countries may be a partial explanation for this. EU immigrants operate

  half of all subsidized firms in Sweden''s largest cities and nearly

  exclusively employ other EU immigrants.'
affiliation: 'Rickne, J (Corresponding Author), Stockholm Univ \& Nottingham Univ,
  Swedish Inst Social Res SOFI, SE-10691 Stockholm, Sweden.

  Rickne, Johanna, Stockholm Univ \& Nottingham Univ, Swedish Inst Social Res SOFI,
  SE-10691 Stockholm, Sweden.'
article-number: '20210001'
author: Rickne, Johanna
author-email: Johanna.rickne@sofi.su.se
author_list:
- family: Rickne
  given: Johanna
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.2478/izajolp-2021-0001
files: []
issn: 2193-9004
journal: IZA JOURNAL OF LABOR POLICY
keywords: Domestic Services; Tax Deduction; Employment; Refugee Immigrants
keywords-plus: AN ANALYSIS; EMPLOYMENT; EQUALITY; GENDER
language: English
month: MAY 13
number: '1'
number-of-cited-references: '39'
orcid-numbers: Rickne, Johanna/0000-0002-3733-7606
papis_id: 83ffc81c8e7cc3dbdd8b74cbd921fe88
ref: Rickne2021whocleans
researcherid-numbers: 'Rickne, Johanna/AEY-8084-2022

  '
times-cited: '0'
title: Who cleans my house if the government pays? Refugees, low-educated workers,
  and long-term unemployed in tax-subsidized domestic service firms
type: article
unique-id: WOS:000670017200001
usage-count-last-180-days: '0'
usage-count-since-2013: '1'
volume: '11'
web-of-science-categories: Industrial Relations \& Labor
year: '2021'