Elderly Care Puzzles in Stockholm: Strategies on formal and informal markets

In “ageing Europe”, there have been widespread developments aimed at the privatisation of elderly care. In tandem, the demand for private domestic services is expanding all over Europe, and elderly citizens are a major part of this demand. Simultaneously, migrant women are increasingly considered the solution to the labour force deficit in the wake of the “care crisis”. This article explores the dual privatisation process in the context of New Public Management reforms and glocalisation in Stockholm/Sweden: namely, what are the consequences to providers and consumers in the elderly care sector and domestic services? In particular, the article highlights the purchase of informal services among the elderly as a part of the “elderly care puzzle”.