Cleaning (in) the Swedish Black Market

Lotta Björklund Larsen

ABSTRACT: Hiring home cleaning is a contested phenomenon in Sweden and increas- ingly so when informally recompensed. During the last decade, pigdebatt en (the maid debate), a proposal for subsidized, paid home cleaning has divided the public debate along political lines as well as in terms of gender and class. Drawing on the historical notions of what type of work an economy includes (and excludes), this article ad- dresses the contestation of paid home cleaning as a transaction of work. How do buy- ers negotiate and justify svart (black market) cleaning as an acceptable transaction in time and space when separating the public from the private? This case study is based on interviews with a group of women indicted for having bought cleaning services from an immigrant without a working permit, a case that created a heated media de- bate in 2003 and 2004.

KEYWORDS: cleaning, domestic services, exchanges, informal work, ‘pigdebatt en’, Sweden

Introduction purchase only for the few who said they could aff ord it or if provided as a fringe benefi t by an In spring 2003 there were headlines in the employer. From 1 July 2007, paying for domes- Swedish press1 about six women in an affl uent tic services, hushållssnära tjänster, are subject to suburb who had been caught paying a woman tax subsidies by 50 per cent.2 Although legal to clean their homes for two hours every purchases have increased, the debate has not other week. The woman, here called Sonia, abated and the left ist opposition has promised was from Lithuania and the indictment was to do away with the subsidies should they re- for an infringement of the Aliens Act (Dom turn to power.3 B4011-03, Göteborgs tingsrätt ). The newspa- Svart arbete literally translates as black mar- pers displayed an array of views; the tabloids ket work and refers to informally recompensed expressed moral indignation at upper-class work. Research oft en refers to the phenom- abuse of a poor illegal immigrant whereas the enon in diff erent shades of economy – shadow, morning papers reported a more multifaceted black, grey, hidden, subterranean and so on – case referring to laws and regulations. Most whereas in Swedish the main emphasis is put lett ers to the editors seemed to support the on work, arbete. As the headlines suggest, not Swedish women and there was a renewed in- only is svart arbete a contested subject in Swe- terest in svart arbete as a subject in radio and den, but so is paid home cleaning. Svart arbete television programmes discussing the event. is a common occurrence in Swedish society and For a large majority of Swedes, cleaning almost half of the population regards both pur- is a do-it-yourself job and if purchased it is chasing and supplying such services as a mi- usually considered svart. In 2003 it was a legal nor off ence (Skatt everket 2006: 30). Purchasing

Anthropology in Action, 19, 1 (2012): 8–21 © Berghahn Books and the Association for Anthropology in Action doi:10.3167/aia.2012.190103 Cleaning (in) the Swedish Black Market | AiA home cleaning has deeply divided the public to a clean house. You got to arrange everything debate along political lines (Platzer 2004) and the night before, but I did not need to clean the there are usually two types of arguments pro- toilet or wipe the fl oors. It was wonderful, I re- ally miss that. posed. Both have moral undertones: on the one hand in terms of gender, class and immigration and, on the other hand, as an economic discus- Methodology sion. The focus is then on the increased growth of the svarta sector, the impact on employment Susanne is one of three of the women indicted or the unfair competition amongst providers. in the above case who agreed to be interviewed This article intends to shed light on this is- for this article. The interviews were performed sue as an illustration of a Swedish ‘regime of in fall 2003 and were part of a pilot study for living’ (Collier and Lakoff 2005). This means a dissertation on purchases of svart arbete.4 My that the purchases will not be judged in terms assumption in interviewing these women was of normative moral values, neither in terms that they had thoroughly refl ected on their acts of gender, ethnicity or class. Instead we will and transactions in relation to their views on explore the context, the reasoning techniques various work tasks. Lena, Susanne and Thea and the institutions in which they take place are all women in their forties,5 quite diff erent (ibid.: 29). As will be shown, this article is also in appearance but busy with work and family an att empt to illustrate one aspect of the criti- life. One of them is newly separated and the cal challenge for anthropology today – how to other two are married. Instead of the luxury deal with the relationship between the private villas imagined by the headlines ‘upper class’, and the public spheres (Carrier and Miller I found the sett ing very ordinarily Swedish, 1999: 24). as if taken out of the sitcom ‘Svensson, Svens- We will see how informally recompensed son’.6 The red-painted boarded row houses home cleaning is part of the handling of life they lived in were copies of each other, or- amongst a few middle-class Swedish women, ganised around courtyards with lawns, bushes each with their own jobs to negotiate. To illu- and benches. Traces of children were every- minate this, emic defi nitions of work between where to be seen – strewn outdoor toys, bi- public and private realms situated in the cycles and footballs indicated days full of play contemporary Swedish welfare state will be and activities on the common yard as well as explored. In particular, two aspects are singled outside each row house. The indoor layout of out. Firstly, how is home cleaning defi ned as each house was identical, although the diff er- work? Secondly, how is a fair price negotiated ent tastes of each family made the atmosphere for paid home cleaning, between doing tasks slightly varied. oneself or of working extra to pay for them? Their purchases of cleaning are here seen as These women did not originally intend to part of a contemporary Swedish ‘regime of liv- hire a cleaner. It was an opportunity off ered ing’ as they express a ‘situated form of moral as they tried to cope with everyday life: work, reasoning’ (Collier and Lakoff 2005: 23) in ‘pro- children and tasks at home. Susanne refl ected cesses of refl ection and action in situations in on her situation when she had returned to which living has been rendered problematic’ work aft er her third maternity leave: (ibid.: 22). In essence illegal purchases created contradicting opinions amongst politicians, Well, it would be nice to have a cleaner, but on the other hand no, you don’t have that, no I did union representatives, police and the public not want someone unknown who is in my home in the media. The women’s narratives of the while I am away. But, anyhow, it was very nice actual events were very similar and the clean- and also cheap. It was wonderful to come home ing lady was the same. However, their expla-

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nations and excuses for buying those services thereby force authorities to raise taxes. These diverged, and so did their views on work. increments worry authorities as they are be- lieved to reinforce the informal sector in a vicious circle, both morally (Mars 1982: 220) Svart Arbete: Illegal Informal Work and economically (Riksrevisionsverket 1997: 59; Skatt everket 2006: 4). On the one hand, Phenomena like svart arbete are global and usu- the svart arbete generated is fraudulent as the ally described in terms of an informal economy. money made will not be subject to tax, but it In the Swedish context it encompasses all work cannot on the other hand entirely be regarded that is recompensed and subject to tax, but as a swindle, as much of it would never have where the latt er is never sett led. The state is left taken place due to the increased cost level had out of the transaction when the supplier ‘for- it been performed within the formal sector gets the invoice’, ‘off ers a nice price’, ‘is shad- (Skatt everket 2004: 211). ing’, ‘works stainless’,7 and so on. Svart arbete The boundaries between arbete (work) and is usually considered a short-term economic svart arbete (black work) used by authorities gain both for the suppliers and providers as and in the media seem clear-cut and non- no taxes are paid. However, the concept covers negotiable as if there were nothing in between. everything from the outright and systematic Taking a closer look, there are many instances abuse, for example of immigrants without where work falls into a greyish area. In an al- working permits forced to work for a pitt ance ternative description of the Swedish economy, just to survive, to those occasionally consumed it is envisaged as if it were made up of four services which the households could perform colours (Ingelstam 1995). Yellow and blue, im- themselves. Examples of such services include ages of the Swedish fl ag, represent the public car maintenance, smaller home repairs, trans- and private monetary economy respectively. port, refurbishing, cleaning, childcare and so Vitt (white) is all productive work not per- on. This case illustrates the diffi culties of a formed for money while black, svart, is the moral discourse understanding svart arbete as criminal and illegal economic activities. Ac- one concept, but enlightens the connection of cording to Ingelstam’s analysis, help yourself the relatively new phenomena of exploiting work takes place in a white-grey sector. These immigrants without working permits and the are smaller purchases acquired for private use, everyday cheating (such as common exchanges an easy and personal way to get help with ev- of services between people of closer relation- eryday needs (ibid.: 102). ships where tax payments are omitt ed, cf. Isac- Formal work is distinguished from the in- son 1994). formal by economists and also by the media On a societal level, there are concerns with as services that are sold and bought on a mar- the devious immoral circle of increasing ket (Wadel 1979: 367). Formal work is easy to amounts of svart arbete, expressed as declining quantify and measure and is used in calcula- morals and the greed of Swedish citizens. If tions and economic forecasts. The remaining, citizens are perceived to buy or provide these uncompensated work is thus informal: all type of services, thereby avoiding taxes, offi - household work, voluntary contributions, fl ea cial regulations and union agreements, the so- markets and barters as well as svart arbete and called power of such institutions as well as outright criminal activities (cf. Sampson 1986: the solidarity within the community decrease 24–25; Leonard 1998: chapter 2; Hart 2001: (cf. Smith 1989). From an economic viewpoint, 845). Separating economic sectors into formal transactions escaping taxation result in lower and informal does not clarify the issue and this tax revenues than otherwise planned, and division has been described as oversimplifi ed 10 | Cleaning (in) the Swedish Black Market | AiA

(Fernández-Kelly and Garcia 1989: 251). They wealth. Smith’s focus on diff erent types of are thus now recognised as having a complex work was on how it was used. Any making of relationship (Williams and Windebank 1998: exchangeable items was productive and part 30). Although a global phenomenon, the in- of an economy. Services at home, regardless formal economy is diffi cult to categorize as of whether they were produced by a member it ‘cut[s] across the whole social structure’ of the household or a paid domestic labourer, (Castells and Portes 1989: 12; cf. Williams and were not exchangeable and therefore not seen Windebank 1998: 39). Oft en considered in op- as fruitful for society at large (Smith 1982 position to a level of economic development [1776]: 430). This view still penetrates the mod- (Portes and Haller 2005: 404), these transac- ern economy with its unwillingness to include tions are rather adaptations to the constraints productive work outside monetary exchanges of everyday living. It has been aptly stated that or household work (e.g. Ingelstam 1995: 89). ‘informality is an intrinsic element of formality Obviously, if conventional housework were to as it is an answer to the defi ciencies of formali- be included in gross domestic product (GDP) sation. It is an adaptive mechanism that simul- calculations it would aff ect them signifi cantly taneously and in a vicious circle, reinforces the (e.g. Leonard 1998: 94). Lena, who works in defects of the formal system’ (Adler Lomnitz healthcare, can exemplify this when she de- 1988: 42). This is of course what worries au- fi nes work as all tasks that are not pleasurable. thorities and this case is thus an illustration of ‘I also work at home,’ she says, ‘although I this point. don’t get paid for it’.

Household Work and Its Worth Cleaning Homes: Paid and Unpaid Work As recompensed work moved away from homes during the diff erent phases of indus- Cleaning is usually part of hidden or informal trialization, home has been reinforced as the work when it is not recompensed and thus typical place for informal work. Household remains unrecognized as proper work (Wadel work is driven by necessities and traditions 1979). Cleaning is an indispensable task as too ‘fundamental to individual and social repro- much dirt is unhealthy, but it is also a type of duction’ (Gregson and Lowe 1994: 79) con- work which most people abhor doing. It is sisting of cooking, cleaning and care but also oft en done alone, a solitary and also repeti- maintenance of existing properties. Although tive task. Cleaning does not produce anything those services are necessary to uphold the mul- visible, but is a return to the status quo; the tifunctional characteristics of a household they material result, if any, is a bag of dust and are unrecompensed, deemed economically un- other unwanted disposables (e.g. Mackintosh productive and not contributing to societal 1988: 393). It is a removal of something alien, ‘a wealth. matt er out of place’ (Douglas 1997 [1966]: 44). Many emic defi nitions of work encompass Most individuals appreciate a clean space, but the economic emphasis on productivity as many would rather see someone else doing established by Adam Smith in the late 1700s. the work (e.g. Ernsjöö Rappe & Strannegård In the quest to defi ne societal growth, he de- 2004). As such, it is a subject for discussion fi ed the ineptitude of earlier types of economic and dispute in many Swedish households. systems such as house holding and mercantil- Still, home cleaning is oft en part of a woman’s ism. As a solution he proposed the division realm and not recognizing it as proper work of labour as the engine for increasing societal confi rms gender inequality in society (Gregson

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and Lowe 1994: 131; Leonard 1998: 125; Öberg although the activity itself has remained the 1999; Ernsjöö Rappe and Strannegård 2004: same. 143ff .). It is both a professionalization of sorts and Cleaning in Swedish homes becomes more a way to separate the tasks from the provider. complicated when it is paid for. It is sociologi- However, this ‘home work’ is still mostly cally contested as a phenomenon (cf. Öberg contested unless provided by the state for the 1999; Ehrenreich and Russell Hochshild 2002), handicapped or elderly. As the saying goes, but is still an accepted fact and means for sur- ‘man skall ta hand om sin egen skit’ (’you should vival in many places of the world. Gett ing your take care of your own dirt’). Privately, the offi ce cleaned in Sweden is perfectly accept- opposite expressions can be heard – to have able and usually done by contracted profes- someone clean one’s house is almost a status sionals. The task is as essential at home as at symbol. Paying for such services today is in work and is a type of work most people can the public debate on one hand considered as do, a fact which doubly emphasizes the com- an upper class phenomenon, but on the other plicated relationship between activities taking hand a possibility for more equal career op- place in private and public respectively. One portunities for women in Swedish working way to cast light on what makes the opposition life (as Thea suggested). In this view, cleaning against having a house cleaner so widespread should be a job like any other and having help in Sweden is to examine how the professional- with it would be a way for women to obtain ization of Swedish home servants and thus the equal possibilities with men (cf. Bowman and Swedish ‘maid debate’ developed. Cole 2009).

Professionalizing Cleaning Pigdebatten: The Swedish Maid Debate

Cleaning as an occupation has undergone Throughout the twentieth century, the Swed- many name changes in Sweden, refl ecting so- ish welfare state developed, as did the unions cietal transformation as well as eff orts to bett er and the rights of workers. Excluded from this its status. This historical evolution illustrates development were paid domestic labourers the development of the worker’s status from and maids (Öberg 1999: 198) who did not that of a domestic servant to an independent have a union and experienced an exception- professional, even an entrepreneur. There has ally weak juridical protection. Öberg explains been a terminological transformation from this as an historical phenomenon, part of the piga (maid), husa (housemaid), städerska (house institutionalisation of the Swedish welfare so- cleaner), to kontors- and lokalvårdare (caretaker ciety. As social-democratic women fought for of offi ces or premises), hygientekniker (sanitary workers’ rights throughout the last century, technician) and to att ge företagsservice (pro- they depended on servants taking care of their vider of business services).8 This movement children and homes due to the lack of public illustrates a change from dependency and hi- childcare. House servants were thus utt erly erarchy towards more equal and professional necessary for those involved in building the relations between principal and provider. From welfare state, but a thorn in the side to their exclusively referring to a hierarchical domestic idea of sisterhood solidarity. But increased world, the terminology nowadays alludes to welfare services made house servants increas- the industrial world. Cleaning is in a double ingly redundant and as a result they were the sense proper work informed by a professional last professional group in Sweden to obtain the relationship between provider and purchaser, right to a 40-hour working week in 1971. 12 | Cleaning (in) the Swedish Black Market | AiA

In 1993 the issue of paid domestic work ily employs an au-pair girl.10 Göran Persson, placed itself heavily on the political agenda as the social-democratic leader and prime min- economist and Member of Parliament Anne- ister at the time, said that everybody should Marie Pålsson suggested societal economic be able to clean their own house, omitt ing that gains by proposing tax deductions for paid his residence got cleaned fi ve hours a week domestic work. From a tax perspective, it sug- (Garme 2006). gests a view of the household on equal terms with an enterprise. Union economist Villy Bergström strongly reacted against this pro- Defi nitions of Work in Time and Space posal, evoking the historical idea of the piga (maid) which carries historical and emotional Work is a necessity – a possibility to survive associations of dependence between people. and pay for food, housing and clothing. Re- He thus reconstructed the picture of former gardless of the defi nition of work, recom- Swedish class society, an upstairs–downstairs pense is usually the rough division between society (Öberg 1999: 191). Pigdebatt en (the maid formal work and all other activities and tasks debate) was born. The debate was not clearly individuals have to perform. In the Swedish divided along political lines. For example, a discussion there is arbete (work) and svart ar- government investigation9 led by Dan Anders- bete (black work), but Swedes seldom talk of son, the former chief economist at ‘LO’, The vitt arbete (white work).11 The norm is arbete, Swedish Trade Union Confederation, also rec- a regular job carried out in the public sphere, ommended tax deductions for services aimed following rules and regulations and recom- at households, amongst them cleaning services pensed accordingly. Arbete is paid work, usu- (SOU 1997). Economic rationalizations stood ally employment that can also be freelancing against historical connotations of inequality or running one’s own business. Most work and the debate has continued since. is regulated in contractual terms with a pub- Tax deductions or subsidies for home clean- licly recorded recompense. This makes the ing have been introduced in neighbouring job genuine, entangled with the state through Denmark and Finland. In the Swedish election income taxes, social security fees and pension campaign during fall 2006, the issue continued savings. to be contested with the alliance parties pro- Sonia, the cleaner, was said to be in Sweden posing tax-deductions for hushållssnära tjänster to earn more money than at home. She clearly (literally services close to the domestic sphere saw the cleaning as work for an income. Thea, – an example of disassociating the work from Lena and Susanne also start out defi ning work the producer) and the left being against this, in terms of income, but modify their view referring strongly to the discourses of formerly when discussing diff erent tasks to be per- abused piga (cf. Öberg 1999: 196). In addition formed at home and at ‘work’, in private and it was a question of economic equality where in public. When and where work is performed only those already well off were thought to illustrates the division between these spheres. benefi t from the proposed tax-deductions. It We go to work, a public space, regardless if it was thus argued that it would run against the is an offi ce, a university, a factory, a stable or aim of an equal society. Opinions were even visiting a client. The worksite is one of identi- pronounced at political top level, which un- fi cation, for many a second home where one’s derscores the importance for Swedes of ‘[tak- desk, locker, tool or tractor is. The location and ing] care of your own dirt’. Fredrik Reinfeldt, design of the workplace is a factor helping to the leader of the alliance, stated publicly his establish the identity of the employee. But liking for cleaning his home, although his fam- work has also become more individualized

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(Allvin 2004) and also directly intrudes into of the work performed and especially how it many employees’ private space, exemplifi ed by is defi ned in relation to the idea of the Swed- the supply of mobile phones and intranet con- ish state, the problematic nature of paid home nections. These technologies have again made cleaning can be bett er understood. it possible for some (also) to work from home, which complicates another factor that oft en defi nes work from other activities – time (Ortiz A Fair Price for Cleaning 1994: 898). Even in a modern welfare society many Thea, energetic and decisive in appearance, people make their living working from home. talked about work as an exchange of time for It provides fl exibility (Hakim 1988). To work money. Other tasks in life can be divided be- from home saves time used in commuting and tween the fun ones, such as hobbies and what other household chores can be done almost you do for pleasure and leisure, and those simultaneously. Many people working from tasks that are necessary but a nuisance – such home are overqualifi ed for the task, but have as cleaning. The contradiction is that the work chosen this work as a way of dealing with ev- she is paid for is much more interesting than eryday life even if the income is less than what certain tasks she has to do in her free time. traditional employment away from home can Thea justifi ed her purchase of cleaning as- generate (ibid.). Individuals from all walks of sistance with the argument that she bought life work from home.12 time. It is a consumption priority, she says – For home workers, it can be diffi cult to she could have been a smoker and spent the separate working time from other activities. money on cigarett es: instead she bought clean- During the development of the welfare state, ing. Thea morally justifi ed her illicit purchase an important issue was to regulate working and compared it with an idea of something time. Restrictions were applied and employees worse, both for society at large and for her were not allowed to work more than a certain own health. Still, she also puts her purchase amount of time per day and per week – thus, in terms of economic rationality, paying for a leisure time was legislated (Sayers 1988: 737; piece of work she could do herself, but which Ehmer 2001: 16573). Leisure time is a positive costs her less when bought svart than what phrase, an opportunity to do things of free she earns net. ‘They [society] have to boost the will. However, this spare time is oft en occu- status, making it real work’, making cleaning pied by other duties imposed by social struc- comparable to any other type of work. tures and norms (Gregson and Lowe 1994: 95). In today’s context, Thea’s argument could Leisure time is not simply time off , it consists make the household comparable to an enter- of everything from daily household chores prise that can deduct any VAT paid from VAT to voluntary maintenance of schools and day earned. Thus, house cleaning would resemble care to tax returns – tasks which can feel more any other type of work. Susanne touched upon demanding than paid work. another economic aspect of the private–public Diff erent setups of recompense, time and division when she pointed out that an end space thus distinguish work in private from consumer pays with taxed money whereas a that in the public sphere. When choosing to company pays for offi ce cleaning as part of buy a service on the public market for private the regular expenditures and in addition de- use, a task that can usually be done by oneself, ducts the VAT of 25 per cent. The diff erence it seems at the outset not to be much diff erent between white cleaning costs for a company from buying a sweater instead of knitt ing it by and a private person are thus multiple. Hav- oneself. However, when looking at the content ing a company registered at home means that 14 | Cleaning (in) the Swedish Black Market | AiA when the home offi ce is cleaned professionally ers in order to get their services cheaply to be the service can easily be expanded to include despicable. Both she and Thea condemned most of the private part of the house as well. the amount of pay some Polish cleaners were The ‘white’ offi ce cleaning and ‘black’ home reported to have received in a case pursued by cleaning within a house becomes a ‘greyish’ the police at the same time as their indictment. variety. The hourly pay for those clients was about the The reasoning of these women could be same or even less, but the money did not go traced back to the view of Aristotle, which straight to the Polish women. Instead there includes household work as part of what was an organising intermediary, which the makes up an economy. In this view, both work newspapers called ‘the pimp’, who took half at home and away from home is comparable of the pay. Thea and Susanne found both the and should be exchangeable in terms of time. payment distribution between the pimp and Susanne emphasises this thought in the Swed- the cleaners as well as the cleaners’ recom- ish context of equality, when she adds that pense appalling. But Thea adds, as an aft er- rich people, namely those who earn more on thought, ‘who knows who is abusing whom? an hourly basis, should be able to pay the Maybe even the Polish women were happy as formal cost. To exchange an hour of ‘white’ the pay they earned in Sweden is bett er than cleaning for an hour of net income demands what they would have been able to earn at an executive pay level due to the tax wedge.13 home’. These women feel responsible for and have If there was not such a big diff erence be- previously been doing most of the cleaning at tween the legal pay level for domestic work home. When they compare costs, it is in rela- and the net income earned by these women, tion to their own pay, not their husbands’ pay all three say that they would have preferred or additional family income. They would thus to hire the cleaning services vitt – legally. But have to work three to four hours in order to paying for vitt cleaning services was out of pay for one hour of vitt . the question. Instead they argued in favour of Thea talks about the current situation of diff erent ways of exchanging an hour of their Swedish women, where most have full-time formal work for an hour of cleaning. They paid employment but the majority are nevertheless about the same amount for the cleaning ser- still responsible for and perform the household vices as they themselves made for working an cleaning. She thus rationalizes her purchases hour. In their terms, it was almost a bartering of cleaning services by relating time to money, arrangement and compared to the legal price, erasing diff erences between her work per- it was like a commodity on clearance sale. formed in public and in private, respectively. Lena, Susanne and Thea all advocated a fair By uplift ing the status of cleaners and simul- ‘exchange rate’ for cleaning services compared taneously subsidizing the work they perform, to ‘do-it-yourself’. They judged the amount the authorities could really do something for Sonia received in cash by their own hourly gender equality, she argues. One hour of work net pay. They can perform the job themselves, should be exchangeable for another: Thea given that they do not work full-time or use would work one hour and a cleaner one hour. the time with their children as Susanne does. It would be like bartering, although sett led Therefore the pay Sonia received was suffi cient with money and thus within economic reach and slightly bett er than what they earn them- for most people. selves net. Besides, an employee in a cleaning However, exchanging work in terms of time company would get 70 krona14 an hour before means omitt ing intermediaries. Susanne con- taxes, Lena told me, having checked this aft er siders the behaviour of those who abuse work- the indictment.

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A Professional Relationship that the house was in order and all personal in the Private Sphere? items were packed away. Sonia would perform only the actual cleaning: dusting, wiping the Susanne expressed confusion and astonish- fl oors and the bathrooms. ment that she was in the media’s spotlight. An Thus, on one hand the women wanted So- illustration of this is what happened when nia to care for their homes as she worked, and she told her sister about it. Susanne asked her treat it as they treated it themselves: to show sister if she had read about the cleaning case somehow that their home was a special place. in the papers. ‘You mean those rich bitches?’, On the other hand, these women bought a ser- her sister had asked. ‘That’s me’, Susanne ad- vice to be performed professionally. As they mitt ed, and added with a laugh that her sister were away while she cleaned, they needed to almost fainted when told. trust her. Paying for cleaning vitt makes the Susanne works part-time with Mondays off . transaction transparent and offi cial, and any She calls these her ‘social Mondays’, days that abuse of this professional relationship can be she dedicates to her three children instead of prosecuted. But Susanne had heard of someone using the time to clean the house. The paid who had used a cleaning fi rm. Their house was cleaning was only to help her out when the later broken into and the suspicion was that kids were small. Susanne defi ned work as someone in the cleaning company had passed those tasks she receives compensation for and on the keys. Susanne thus argues that a profes- thus pays taxes on. She added as an aft er- sional provider is not a warranty for trust. thought that she also works at home, but as it The police questioned the women’s behav- is neither recompensed nor taxed she does not iour in the interrogations and pointed out the consider it real work, just inconvenient tasks risks of leaving their keys under a fl owerpot which take time. If she instead chooses to pay and lett ing an unknown woman into their for some of the home tasks, the task trans- houses while they were at work. But Lena did forms into real work. Susanne wants to keep a not feel insecure: she had hidden their cheque distinction between the private and the public books. Lena also felt that Sonia was reliable as and if she pays for cleaning services, the rela- she had many clients in the neighbourhood tionship with the provider should be profes- and a steady income she would not risk los- sional. During her last pregnancy, she had an ing. Svart cleaning services are not available acquaintance who needed money who helped on an offi cial market, but go by word of mouth her clean her home. But the friend came too between neighbours and friends and through close when she started taking things out of the other loosely connected networks. Lena could drawers and decorating Susanne’s home. ’She fi nd inexpensive cleaning by chance in a phone got inside my skin’, Susanne said. call with a neighbour using the ‘strength of All three women noticed Sonia’s lack of weak ties’ (Granovett er 1983) and these weak personal touch, having wished to see that she ties were the origin of trust in the relationship cared a litt le bit extra for their homes. Susanne with Sonia. The trust is not established directly told me that Sonia did not arrange household with her, but through the relationships they items properly. For example, if there were have with her other customers. No one is at toys on the fl oor she just threw them on the home when Sonia cleans, instead keys are hid- bed instead of arranging them neatly. Thea den in the garden or on the porch and money did not mind this at all: that Sonia never went is left on the kitchen table as recompense. At into drawers emphasised the professional and times when Sonia did not arrive for work, impersonal nature of her work. The day before Lena just cleaned herself and left the keys hid- Sonia came to work, the family had to ensure den in the agreed place the next time around. 16 | Cleaning (in) the Swedish Black Market | AiA

Trust in Sonia was (re)produced through this tion, as an extra benefi t she helped someone network of neighbour and/or friend relation- in need. Lena has to work full-time and pay ships, knowing that she had much to lose. her taxes, but the welfare state does not seem to be there for her. Everybody at work seems stressed and so are the children in schools and Helping Others and Yourself daycare centres. The people who need help do not get any, she argues, so by putt ing the On the individual level, these women talked blame on society’s lack of care, she decides for about their purchase of cleaning services as herself how best to care for her family’s needs, gett ing help and giving help. Lena was not regardless of what the legal rules are. It is her the only one who said that she paid well and way of defi ning a regime of living (Collier and in a way helped this woman who could not Lakoff 2005: 23) as her decision posed a situ- earn money otherwise. The cleaning help was ated confi guration of ethical problems when a temporary arrangement: the women bought living her life. themselves help in a gendered society where Sonia cleaned in Sweden without a work the husbands, due to their larger paycheques, permit, thus illegally, and she could not be were mostly excused for not participating in paid the regular way which would have in- the home cleaning. Although all the members cluded taxes, retirement savings and so on. of the three women’s families benefi ted from Implicit in these three women’s argument is Sonia’s cleaning, it was the women who were that Sonia had chosen to come to Sweden and indicted.15 Thea meant that this was just an ex- work illicitly, instead of staying in Lithuania ample of that women still perform 90 per cent and working for less than what she receives of household work. If losing at the next legal in Sweden (according to Susanne, Lithuanian instance she said she would go public, debat- monthly average pay is the equivalent of 800 ing the right for subsidized home cleaning as a krona). In the police interrogations, Sonia said true feminist issue. she sent money home monthly to her family, The issue does not only involve gender. at each instance 3,000 to 4,000 krona in an enve- Lena is angry and disappointed at society lope, together with some postcards. Sonia was aft er the indictment and how the services of in a sense helped by her ‘employers’ and at the the welfare state, such as childcare and health- same time, they got a good deal for themselves care, seem to deteriorate. She considers most as cleaning services from a company would activities work, but also makes a distinction have cost about 250 to 400 krona per hour. between the paid and the unpaid. What is of Both Thea and to a certain extent Susanne gain for society is work in public and, as such, relate work in public with the tasks that have she thinks that society actually benefi ted from to be performed in private, thus translating her paying for home cleaning. She works full one hour of their paid work into one hour of time, has two small children and felt on the paid cleaning. It is a professional exchange verge of being burnt out when she learnt about in the private sphere, hidden from the public Sonia. Lena earns less per hour than what she market, an example of managing one’s life paid for the cleaning services. Instead of being within a given context, ‘a regime of living’ on sick leave, as a burden and cost to society, (Collier and Lakoff 2005). Susanne’s reasoning her purchase made it possible for her to con- is full of contradictions, in strictly legal terms, tinue to work and pay income taxes. Gett ing in relation to what she ought to have paid. A Sonia’s cleaning service was a help yourself regime of living is not always lucid and char- purchase, not only for private gain but also in acterized by an internal logic (ibid.: 33), but economic terms for society at large. In addi- still has a certain coherence (ibid.: 31).

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On a societal level, this help was illegal. So- a ‘nobody’ without rights in public. ‘Today’s nia, a woman without a work permit, cleaned cleaner does not have low status, she does not homes without paying taxes and those who even exist’ (Ernsjöö Rappe and Strannegård should have paid them omitt ed taxes and so- 2004: 166). cial fees from the transaction. These women The purchasers’ justifi cations highlight con- argued that they hired cleaning services to be sumption choices in the sometimes confusing bett er off in the short term: Lena so as not to mix of society’s legal construction of work in become burnt out, Thea in order to have more the public and private spheres. Susanne tries time and Susanne in order to be able to spend to keep a distinction in terms of recompense. more time with her children. Sonia’s story is When she cleans, it is not seen as work as she not known, other than that she was fi ned and is not recompensed. Paying for cleaning trans- sent home.16 As laws and rules were not fol- forms it into a sort of work, but as it is a task lowed, society on a macro level was said to she can do herself, she is not willing to work have lost out. for three to four hours in order to pay for one hour. The services she hired were not full- time, but consisted of occasional help which Conclusion gave her more precious time with her chil- dren. Thea relates her transactions to the legal Svart cleaning is, in a twofold sense, informal norms of society and has constructed a case of work. On one hand, home cleaning is not legality for paying for the cleaning services of recognized as productive work: a public eco- an immigrant without a working permit. She nomic activity contributing to the GDP. On sees an economy consisting of work both in the other, svart cleaning is also informal as private and in public. She argues that as work the compensation is paid in cash, outside the makes up a large part of the welfare system, established payment routines and beyond the the state should make it possible for anyone to state’s view, omitt ing due taxes and fees. How- hire cleaning services. Lena also relates work ever, it cannot in the above case be considered to society, not to the normative understanding, lost income for the state. The option for these but rather to her idea of what a good society women was not to buy the service from a should be. For her it is not important who fi rm, which they considered too expensive, performs which job, the important thing is not but instead to do-it-themselves. A view of an to abuse others, neither as individuals nor as economy which recognises that it consists of a collective. In a deteriorating welfare society both formal and informal economic activities with increased demands of effi ciency and helps understand why svart arbete is seen as an rationality on the individual, she thinks that acceptable act. families in particular need help. These indi- It has been argued that the Swedish pigde- viduals feel squeezed between society’s norms, batt en not only has its roots in a structural the demands and opportunities at work and work division ruled by gender and class, but managing life within a changing welfare state. also in the economic defi nition of which tasks As a response to the increased demands of are considered work. Regardless of how much working life, they construct their own justifi ca- household work is in demand, it continues to tions to get help with tasks that facilitate their be overlooked and perhaps seen as too basic private lives within the limits of their economic to be included in societal economy. The same means. A Swedish regime of living. is true of the cleaner. There are many women like Sonia who work hard every day in many Postscript: Lena, Susanne and Thea were con- Swedish homes. Not being recognized, she is victed and sentenced to pay quite heavy fi nes 18 | Cleaning (in) the Swedish Black Market | AiA in the fi rst instance, on a level with what a 7. My translation for numerous Swedish slang formal employer would have paid. Two of expressions: glömmer fakturan – ‘forgets the them appealed and were acquitt ed in spring invoice’, ger ett juste pris – ‘off ers a nice price’, mörkar – ‘is shading’, arbetar rostfritt – works 2004. The one who had already paid her fi ne ‘stainless’. still awaits compensation. However, the case is 8. These words were all found in an Internet still considered svart arbete confi rming the op- search. The spectrum of words calling a cleaner portunities for informal exchanges due to legal everything from maid to provider of corporate ambiguities (Fernandez-Kelly and Garcia 1989: services refl ects the urge to modernize this 247; Ingelstam 1995: 82–83), which Swedish Eu- work and the att empt of a political transforma- tion of the role of a lodged domestic servant to ropean Union membership here confi rms. a professional cleaner. 9. Tjänstebeskatt ningsutredningen is the Offi cial Lott a Björklund Larsen holds a post-doctoral Investigation of Taxes on Services (my trans- position at the interdisciplinary Department of lation). Technology and Social Change at Linköping Uni- 10. Interview with Prime Minister Fredrik Rein- versity. Her research interests concern societal feldt, Melin, Lena, in Aft onbladet, 21 December 2008. economy with a special interest in exchanges of 11 Confi rmed by 791 hits for vitt arbete (Google, services. What makes them considered as eco- May 2007), compared to 13,200 for svart arbete. nomic, and how is the border between this and the 12. In Hakim’s British example those working in non-economic defi ned and maintained? What role service professions or with less education are does the economy, and theories about it, play in rather underrepresented. It is thus a deliberate contemporary society? Her current project ex- choice for many. 13. The relation between the total wage costs and plores this border by studying the practices at the what the worker receives net is referred to as Swedish Tax Agency, looking at the factors that the tax wedge, skatt ekil. The price a private make certain transactions subject to taxation and person pays is much more expensive than what others not. E-mail: lott [email protected] a similar service costs a commercial company. Paying in private as an end-consumer is done with money which has already been taxed, the tax wedge thus appraised. For estimates and Notes further discussion about the Swedish tax wedge cf. Henrekson (1998) and SOU (2004: 46). 1. Amongst many, ‘Härvan med ‘svart’ städhjälp 14. Krona is the Swedish currency, approximately växer’ (Larsson 2003), ‘Det var rena slavarbetet’ 10 krona to 1 euro and 7 to a US dollar. (Gustafsson 2003). 15. According to the police, it was because only the 2. Including VAT up to 50,000 krona yearly, which women’s names were in Sonia’s address book. can be retroactively deducted. A number of gender issues are available for 3. There are a few politicians amongst the Social analysis here, but for lack of space will not be Democrats who are in favour. pursued. 4. Published in 2010 as Illegal Yet Licit: Justify- 16. Trying to locate Sonia has unfortunately been ing Informal Purchases of Work in Contemporary to no avail. She was last known to have moved Sweden. on to Great Britain, leaving no address. 5. 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