Demographic trends in Europe towards an ageing population and a declining youth cohort point to a scissors effect of high demand for elderly care, but limited supplies of available labour to meet current and projected need. One market-based response by private households is the employment of immigrant women as carers. This article draws from an ethnographic study of a group of Filipina domestic workers employed as carers for elderly people in southern Cyprus, and offers insights into market care and contemporary globalisation. It points to foreign domestic workers as part of a process involving the commoditisation and transfer of important areas of reproductive labour.
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