European Policy Analysis
this social mobility . The isolation during their stays in Germany further impedes any demands for an improvement of working conditions . Live-ins with their up to 24 hours on-call duties have not only relatively bad working conditions compared to the average jobs in Germany , their working conditions are often against valid German legislation . Interaction with local people would probably mean that they learn more about common working rights and conditions . Live-ins would most likely claim their rights and strive for an improvement of their situation . The circularity and the limitation of the stays help these arrangements to work , because it helps to keep live-ins uninformed about their rights and keeps their point of reference when it comes to social hierarchies their home countries . With this in mind , it is doubtful whether the circular migration of live-ins really leads to a triple-win scenario in which all involved parties benefit , including the migrants themselves .
What has also been shown in the interviews is that the tasks of the live-ins are portrayed more like domestic work , rather than care work . This links this profession to the plea of the International Domestic Workers Federation ( IDWF 2014 ) to acknowledge private households as workplace and thus domestic work as equal to any other work . Schilliger ( 2013 ) also describes , that in the work situations of live-ins many tasks such as having a walk with the person they take care of , are not generally seen as part of the work but as free time . This is again also related to a demand voiced in one of the workshops of the conference “ Germany in the Elderly Care Crisis – Perspectives and Problems of Care Migration ” ( Heinrich-
Böll Stiftung 2014 ). In order for the general acknowledgement of live-ins and their profession , an official description of the occupation including the tasks should be drawn . Like this it would become clearer , which tasks constitute a part of the job and what having “ free ” time really means . Live-ins and the way their work is portrayed , is also related to the general undervaluation of tasks traditionally assigned to women . In this way it could be argued that foreign recruitment in this field , with these tasks does just as Piore ( 1979 ) predicted , circumvent the general revaluation of this work in German society .
During fieldwork , it became clear that the legal grounds for the employment were not clearly established , even within the agencies placing live-ins in German families . This shows that there is a grey area in which the rights of the workers are likely to be cast aside . This is in line with what Castles ( 2006 ) was worried about , when he compared “ guest worker ” recruitment with circular migration and explained that they are similar in the likelihood that workers rights are breached . Both Lutz and Palenga- Möllenbeck ( 2011 ) and Schilliger ( 2013 ) also compare the situations of the live-ins with those of the former “ guest workers ”, as responsibilities for social security are shifted to the sending countries and the individual . Apart from this similarity , there is a difference between the two , however , which can be highlighted when looking at structures of circularity . Many of the former “ guest workers ” did settle in Germany , subsequently started to understand local hierarchies and strive for an improvement of their position . What this analysis has shown is that
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