The types of services

The following types of services could be included in PHS:

• Cleaning (household support)
• Cooking (household support)
• Ironing (household support)
• Home repairs (household support)
• Gardening (household support)
• Maintenance (household support)
• Remedial classes (household support)
• Care for elderly (care-related services)
• Care for persons with disabilities (care-related services)
• Childcare (care-related services)

Main characteristics of the services

PHS services are not standard products, given that they present key characteristics that explain, as developed in the next section, why supporting policies might be needed in the market.

• PHS have a low import content (activities produced locally), which implies low import loss in the event of public intervention. Moreover, PHS jobs are local jobs that cannot be relocated abroad, which means that unemployment can be reduced in the long-term;

• PHS have a high employment content, which implies that they could have an important effect on job creation in the event of public support;

• Varying levels of technical skills requirements (“do it yourself” possible in some areas, higher requirements in the case of care), but generally a need for a decent level of skills and good relational and social skills;

• Low productivity in some of the tasks involved, but the potential for indirect productivity increases if users of PHS are able to focus more on their own job;

• Owing to their specific nature (services conducted at home, previously “provided” by households themselves and only recently outsourced), the use of some services might be hindered by cultural barriers.

These characteristics are important to understand why measures are necessary to support PHS (see later).

Overview of the main services provided by PHS measures in 8 country cases