Aging societies and migrant labour force in elderly care: the German case

Not only the domestic but also the institutionalized care in the Global North has become dependent on global migrant workers. However, it is still little known about the working conditions of migrant care workers. This chapter critically explores the working conditions of migrant labour in elderly care in Germany and addresses both home- and institutionalized care arrangements. It discusses how elderly care work is organized, which problems emerge, and how it is linked with the general questions about the social recognition of care work, (un)equal gender relations, globalized labour markets and the transnational division of labour. It concludes that the global migration of care workers to Germany and the accommodation of care workers at their workplace is often followed by experiences of non-recognition of formal qualifications, processes of deskilling, asymmetric power relations, hierarchical structures, and discrimination.