More than 85 percent of Park Slope families pay their the domestic help under the table. According to the Brooklyn Paper and a Park Slope Parents study [PDF], 58 percent of parents who pay their nannies off the books say they think that nannies prefer it that way. But nanny Deborah Manwaring claims that's not necessarily the case: "I don't bring up taxes because they might fire me. With the economy the way it is, I don't want to be unemployed, so I have no choice."
The survey of more than 800 families found that 44 percent of parents who pay nannies off the books say they do it because paying the extra taxes is too difficult, while 38 percent say do it because they can't afford to pay a salary and taxes (statistics show that nannies who are paid on the books cost about $1 extra per hour). While the most recent data from the International Nanny Association shows that the average nanny working for a New York City family with one child earns $777 per week, the average Park Slope nanny earns just $548 per week.
Only 33 percent of Park Slope nannies have written contracts, only 14 percent receive any kind of benefits, and only three percent get health care or partial health care coverage.
