Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on live-in care workers in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland

The COVID-19 pandemic has massively restricted the circular migration of live-in care workers between their home countries in Central and Eastern Europe and seniors’ households in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. In this report, we share insights into the consequences of travel restrictions and other COVID-19 related measures for transnationally organised live-in care. We show how these three countries respond differently but how, in each case, the measures taken subordinate the interests of care workers to those of care receivers. Furthermore, the measures remain short-term fixes that fail to acknowledge the fundamental flaws and inequalities of a care model that relies primarily on migrant workers and on wage differentials within Europe.