Domestic workers look for better status and conditions

About 70 million households require some sort of home help, but a lack of legal rights is discouraging potential newcomers. Li Hongyang reports.

In recent years, rising demand for domestic helpers, including nannies, has prompted hundreds of thousands of people to set up agencies.

However, most are small-scale operations and are driven almost entirely by the profit motive, meaning many do not meet industry standards. Members of staff are rarely provided with adequate training and their employment rights are hardly ever enforced.