Montevideo - Post Report Question and Answers
What is the availability and cost of household help, and what types of help are typically employed by expatriates?
There are plenty of options: nanny, house cleaners, dog walkers, etc. all at rates that are much lower than in the US. Hiring is not as much of a challenge as people make it out to be. If you don't want to deal with the paperwork and government processing, you can outsource the process to local service providers for a reasonable fee. - Aug 2022
Household help can be difficult to arrange because of strict labor laws and benefit requirements. I've heard there have been legal issues stemming from complaints from domestic staff regarding compensation. - Nov 2021
Household help is not really a thing here for regular folks. Labor is super expensive because of unions and expats can end up in a tricky (expensive) legal situation if they don't understand the system or hire the wrong person. Was not worth the potential headache. - Jul 2020
I wish I had known this ahead of time. Help here seems very expensive. A full-time housekeeper/nanny runs about USD 1000/month. There is a government fee (monthly) for household help and it runs about 350 USD per month (insurance, retirement, and health insurance). One also must pay 20 days of vacation, plus one extra month of salary a year, and roughly $1000 USD severance when you leave. - Apr 2019
Plenty of maids and nannies are available but because of labor laws, hiring them, even part-time, can be a financial strain. The government requires lots for domestic employees, including mandatory social security, paid vacations, thirteenth month salary, bonus for showing up to work every day, etc. Most nannies or maids are local Uruguayans and speak little to no English. Pool guys and gardeners are also easy to find and hire; I'm not sure how expensive they are. - Aug 2018
I did not use household help but be aware that local labor laws can be challenging if choosing to go this route. - Jun 2017
Nannies are expensive, in my opinion. - Oct 2016
There is plenty of availability, but cost can be crazy expensive because of the high taxes, bonuses, and complicated local labor laws. For any household help, starting with one hour a week, you must pay more than twenty percent above the agreed salary to the authorities. We pay a small fee to an accountant to make sure we comply with labor laws. There is the 'bonus month', the 'perfect attendance bonus', the governmental across the board raises, medical and retirement, and severance payments. The worker is well protected here by the government and you feel it. - Aug 2016
Yes, but can be expensive because of the requirements of the government - paid leave, mandatory pay raises, contributions into medical fund, etc. - Mar 2014
Available but expensive, and complicated to hire due to regulations imposed by the government, including mandatory raises. - May 2013
Many people have domestic help and I believe it is relatively affordable, but you must pay into the social security fund and follow the local labor rules regarding paid vacations, etc. - Mar 2012
Cheap. - Jan 2009
