Domestic worker job loss, competition, and their economic and immigration-related drivers in 2025-2026
Jun 24 2026
In the second half of 2025, domestic workers experienced record-high financial insecurity and spikes in poor mental health amidst intense immigration enforcement activity and growing economic uncertainty. Towards the end of the year, domestic workers reported worsening power dynamics with employers (especially for immigrant workers ), an influx of new workers from other industries, and a cascading economic crisis affecting not only domestic workers, but also their employers.
Cognizant of and deeply concerned about these patterns, in Spring 2026, the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) set out to investigate the experiences of domestic workers who had lost their jobs in the past year. This report presents worker testimonies from over two dozen in-depth peer interviews and group discussions conducted by members of NDWA’s Worker Councils between March 20 and April 27, 2026. It also presents supporting findings from longitudinal surveys of Spanish-speaking domestic workers who subscribe to La Alianza conducted between January 1, 2025 and May 15, 2026.