The Personal and Household Services (PHS) sector in North Macedonia is vital to the economy and society, offering services like childcare, senior care, cleaning, and repairs. This sector is currently undergoing significant reform to adapt to demographic and cultural shifts, moving towards community-based care.

Over the past two years, the PERHOUSE project has focused on improving working conditions and service quality within the PHS sector across Central and Eastern European countries. The project aims to improve service delivery by establishing workplace standards, addressing informal work practices, and integrating PHS into broader industrial frameworks.

As part of this work, the project has produced national reports and policy briefings for six Central and Eastern European countries, evaluating the current state of PHS and the impact of social dialogue on improving conditions for domestic workers. The latest report in this series focuses on working conditions in the PHS sector and social dialogue in North Macedonia.

Challenges for the PHS Sector in North Macedonia

The PERHOUSE report analyses the current state and structure of service provision of PHS in North Macedonia, including the working conditions and role of social dialogue in regulating and improving the work patterns. The report identifies a number of key challenges within the sector including:

• A "care drain" in which professionals find work abroad, causing a shortage of workers.
• High informality within the sector results in precarious jobs without social protection.

• Regulatory and Administrative Burdens with complex regulations making formal employment challenging for employers and workers.
• Weak social dialogue weakened by the low level of unionisation in the private sector and legislative uncertainties.

 PERHOUSE Recommendations

The PERHOSUE report and Policy briefing provide a number of recommendations to strengthen social dialogue and improve working conditions. These recommendations include:

• Enhancing Formal Employment and Legal Frameworks: Implement legal amendments to facilitate the formalisation of domestic workers' employment.
• Addressing Labour Shortages and Skill Gaps: Launch programs for training and certifying caregivers, focusing on addressing skilled labour shortages in the PHS sector. Promote the professionalisation of workers to ensure quality service provision.
• Supporting Sector-Specific Challenges through Policy Interventions: Introduce targeted policies to address challenges specific to the PHS sector. Implement national strategies to mitigate the effects of demographic changes and emigration on the demand and supply of PHS.
• Enhancing Service Quality and Accessibility: Increase investments in public services to expand their availability and affordability.

To read the full Policy briefing in English, click here. To read the briefing in Macedonian, click here.

To read the full PERHOUSE report for North Macedonia in English, click here. To read the report in Macedonian, click here.

Additional Resources

You can learn more about the state of play of the PHS sector in North Macedonia via the PERHOUSE video here.

A comparative video discussing social dialogue in the PHS sector across Central and Eastern European countries is also available. watch the video, click here.

Click here to read all of the PERHOUSE resources, including national reports for Poland, Czechia, Estonia and Slovenia.