The policy brief addresses the labour relations paradox in the simultaneity of self-employment as a form of contractual arrangement and the dependency of live-in carers in Austria based on empirical data collected in the frame of the JUSTMIG project. The authors find that while self-employment offers flexibility, carers face major disadvantages such as a lack of social protection, no collective bargaining, and reliance on agencies for work, contracts, and conflict resolution. Their working conditions, shaped by 24-hour availability in private homes also create risks of potential exploitation and precarity, requiring new future pathways of better regulatory frameworks that fit the needs of live-in carers. The brief is available in English and in German.
