According to Fu, most small agencies only act as middlemen. After receiving the fees and connecting clients with the workers, they rarely monitor subsequent events because they consider their part of the transaction to be complete. As a result, many domestic helpers are perpetually pessimistic and tend to change employers after every disagreement, minor or major.

"Another problem is that in small agencies, domestic workers don't receive long-term training, and without professional skills they can be easily fired. My experience during the 10 years I have worked in the industry is that many families change domestic workers three or four times a year," he said.

Shortages

Despite the ministry's current estimate that there are about 28 million domestic helpers of all kinds in China, there is still a major shortage of workers for the 70 million households that require such services. The problem becomes especially acute during Spring Festival, when many workers return to their hometowns to spend time with their families.

According to Fu, the only way the sector will become more stable, better regulated and develop into a mature industry is for the bigger agencies to seize a larger share of the market and play a leading role in formulating standards.

The next step would be to improve training for domestic workers, including showing them how to communicate with employers, because few have experienced further or higher education, he said.

"Their confidence needs to be bolstered and they need to adopt the mindset of seeing domestic work as a genuine career. Then we could draw up a career path for them; for example, they could start as domestic helpers before moving on to become qualified housekeepers or maternity matrons.

"The more credibility they gain, the greater their sense of belonging to their job will be. That would create a more stable environment for the sector," he said.