Several PHS characteristics make them interesting from an employment policy point of view: the sector shows extensive job creation potential. At the same time, it appears that this job creation may be sustained by the current increase in potential demand and supply for PHS, as described below.

In most European countries, the potential demand for PHS has strongly increased as a result of several changes:

• Increased female labour market participation since the 1970s. The increase in female labour market participation has created a need to seek a new balance between work and private life now that the male breadwinner model is no longer the norm in society. Consequently, all kinds of domestic and care tasks which, in the past, were almost exclusively performed by unpaid female labour in the household are now outsourced.

• The ageing of the population. This phenomenon, attributable on the one hand to medical progress and on the other to a drop in birth rates, affects most European countries. It has led, naturally, to an increase in the number of individuals who are partially or totally dependent on care supplied by family members or professional caregivers.

• Other aspects such as the evolving composition of households (single-parent families, share of bi-active households) – which has reduced the number of potential carers within the family circle, – and higher standards of living – which has increased the demand for personal services among the middle class – can also be cited as drivers explaining the growing need for PHS.

On the supply side, some changes can cause an increase in the potential pool of workers available to carry out PHS. However, there are several prerequisites (such as incentives to formalise undeclared work in the formal market and attractive working conditions) that need to be fulfilled for that increase to take place.

• Firstly, unemployment rates are high in the EU28 at the moment. With regard specifically to unemployment according to level of education, it appears that the unemployment rate for low-qualified workers in particular has increased during the last decade: 17.7% in 2014, an increase of 7.2 percentage points in comparison to the 2003 rate.[1]

• Transnational economic inequalities and migration – especially a strong rise in female migration – are another specific determinant of the increasing pool of potential workers who can carry out PHS.

• The weight of manufacturing in the EU economy is decreasing in favour of services. This also contributes to the increase in the pool of (low qualified) workers willing to perform PHS.

• Finally, investors are increasingly aware of the potential profitability of the sector, which is primarily achievable through the Silver Economy wave. In light of that development, the sector (or at least some of its subsectors, such as elderly or child care) might attract capital in coming years.

[1] See http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/tgm/table.do?tab=table&init=1&language=fr&pcode=tps00066&plugin=1.