Who Hires Foreign Domestic Workers? Evidence from Lebanon

20 Pages Posted: 19 Oct 2013

See all articles by Ali Fakih

Ali Fakih

Lebanese American University

Walid Marrouch

Lebanese American University; CIRANO; Economic Research Forum

Date Written: September 18, 2013

Abstract

Foreign domestic workers’ activities provide important market and non-market services in a large number of middle-income countries as these activities have an impact on the labor force participation and time allocation decisions of household members. This paper provides new evidence on the determinants of foreign domestic workers’ employment using a socio-economic dataset from Lebanon. Controlling for household, household head, dwelling and regional characteristics, contrary to popular beliefs we find that the size of the household and the presence of elderly persons are not important determinants of the hiring decision of foreign domestic workers, while the probability of hiring a domestic worker is significantly higher for households with children and disabled persons. Interestingly, we find that the number of rooms in the residence rather than its total surface area or type to be the only relevant dwelling characteristic. The paper offers insights about the demand for foreign domestic workers that may be useful to policy makers in developing nations.

Keywords: Foreign domestic workers, Demand for domestic work, Household level data

JEL Classification: D13, J23, J49

Suggested Citation

Fakih, Ali and Marrouch, Walid, Who Hires Foreign Domestic Workers? Evidence from Lebanon (September 18, 2013). CIRANO - Scientific Publications 2013s-36, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2342292 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2342292

Ali Fakih

Lebanese American University ( email )

P.O.Box 36
Chouran-Beirut 1102 2801
Byblos
Lebanon

Walid Marrouch (Contact Author)

Lebanese American University ( email )

P.O. Box 13 - 5053
Chouran-Beirut
Beirut, 1102 2801
Lebanon

CIRANO ( email )

1130 Rue Sherbrooke #1400
Montreal, Quebec H3A 2M8
Canada

Economic Research Forum ( email )

21 Al-Sad Al-Aaly St.
(P.O. Box: 12311)
Cairo, Cairo
Egypt

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