Unregulated, Unknown and Highly Necessary: Grey Market Nannies

• In Event: 50261 - Family Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 6: Migration & Immigrant Families

Abstract

When public policies fail to provide adequate childcare support, families turn to market-based solutions, leading to disparities in access and care quality. In Canada, childcare remains fragmented, particularly for families with young children who are not yet eligible for public schooling. This paper examines the “grey market” of childcare, where nannies and private care workers, often hired through gig economy platforms, work without formal contracts, standardized wages, or legal protections. These unregulated arrangements arise due to labour classification loopholes, employer preferences for informal work, and weak enforcement, leaving nannies essential yet invisible in policy discussions. Despite their critical role, little is known about who these caregivers are, their working conditions, or how they position themselves for employment. This paper provides a first-of-its-kind analysis of the grey market for childcare in Canada through a dataset of over 6,000 nanny profiles scraped from CanadianNanny.ca. The demand for informal care has grown in response to policy gaps, as long waitlists, staffing shortages, and regional disparities limit access to state-supported childcare. While the grey market provides flexibility for families, it exposes care workers, many of whom are immigrant women, to precarious working conditions, low wages, and limited protections. Digital gig platforms further complicate these challenges by circumventing labour standards by prioritizing employer flexibility over worker security. Using Razavi’s “care diamond” framework, this study situates nanny labour within Canada’s evolving care landscape, balancing private, public, and family care, underscoring the urgent need for policies that enhance labour protections, childcare accessibility, and equitable care infrastructures. We apply text-based analysis, including natural language processing and topic modeling, to examine how care workers frame their skills, experience, and professional identity. Our findings suggest that wage expectations shape self-presentation: lower-paid nannies emphasize domestic tasks and family-oriented care, while higher-paid nannies highlight professional qualifications and specialized childcare skills.

Authors

• Fabio Robibaro, University of Toronto

• Monica Alexander, University of Toronto