Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners

Summary

Maids and housekeeping cleaners perform light cleaning duties, such as vacuuming.

Quick Facts: Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners
2010 Median Pay	$19,300 per year $9.28 per hour
Entry-Level Education	Less than high school
Work Experience in a Related Occupation	None
On-the-job Training	Short-term on-the-job training
Number of Jobs, 2010	1,427,300
Job Outlook, 2010-20	8% (Slower than average)
Employment Change, 2010-20	111,600

What Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners Do

Maids and housekeeping cleaners do general cleaning tasks, including making beds and vacuuming halls, in private homes and commercial establishments.

Work Environment

Most maids and housekeeping cleaners work full time. Part-time maids and cleaners often work weekends and evenings, particularly those who work at hotels and hospitals. The work can be physically demanding.

How to Become a Maid or Housekeeping Cleaner

There are no formal training or education requirements. Most workers learn on the job.

Pay

The median annual wage of maids and housekeeping cleaners was $19,300 in May 2010.

Job Outlook

Employment of maids and housekeeping cleaners is expected to grow 8 percent from 2010 to 2020, slower than the average for all occupations. Despite slower than average employment growth, job opportunities are expected to be good overall, and more favorable for those who have some experience.

Similar Occupations

Compare the job duties, education, job growth, and pay of maids and housekeeping cleaners with similar occupations.

O*NET

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Contacts for More Information

Learn more about maids and housekeeping cleaners by contacting these additional resources.

What Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners Do About this section

Maids and housekeeping cleaners clean or polish windows, walls, and woodwork.

Maids and housekeeping cleaners perform general cleaning tasks, including making beds and vacuuming halls, in private homes and commercial establishments.

Duties

Maids and housekeeping cleaners typically do the following:

• Clean rooms, hallways, and other living or work areas
• Change sheets and towels; make beds; wash, fold, and iron clothes
• Empty wastebaskets and take trash to disposal areas
• Replenish supplies, such as soap and toilet paper
• Dust and polish furniture and equipment
• Sweep, wax, or polish floors using brooms, mops, or other floor-cleaning equipment
• Vacuum rugs, carpets, and upholstered furniture
• Clean or polish windows, walls, and woodwork
• Lift and move lightweight objects and equipment

Maids and housekeeping cleaners do light cleaning tasks in homes and commercial establishments, such as hotels, restaurants, hospitals, and nursing homes.

In addition to keeping these places clean and neat, maids who work in private homes also may prepare meals, polish silver, and clean ovens, refrigerators, and sometimes windows. Some also shop for groceries, pick up and drop off dry cleaning, and do other errands.

Those who work in hotels, hospitals, and other commercial establishments are responsible for cleaning and maintaining the premises. They may also share other duties. For example, housekeeping cleaners in hotels may deliver ironing boards, cribs, and rollaway beds to guests’ rooms. In hospitals, workers may have to wash bed frames and disinfect and sanitize equipment with germicides.

Work Environment About this section

Those who work in private households may wash dishes, clean ovens, and refrigerators.

Maids and housekeeping cleaners held about 1.4 million jobs in 2010. About 12 percent were self-employed.

Most maids and housekeeping cleaners work full time. Although most cleaners work indoors in a hotel, restaurant, hospital, or nursing home, many maids who work for individuals or families may have to run errands outside the home. The work can be physically demanding.

The following industries employed the most maids and housekeeping cleaners in 2010:

Injuries

Maids and housekeeping cleaners spend most of their day on their feet, sometimes lifting or pushing heavy furniture. Many tasks, such as dusting or sweeping, require constant bending, stooping, and stretching. Lifting today’s heavier mattresses at nicer hotels to change the linens can cause back injuries and sprains. As a result, these workers have a rate of injury and illness that is much higher than the national average.

Work Schedules

Most maids and housekeeping cleaners work full time. Part-time maids and cleaners often work weekends and evenings, particularly those who work at hotels and hospitals.

How to Become a Maid or Housekeeping Cleaner About this section

Entry-level maids and housekeeping cleaners typically work alongside a more experienced cleaner.

Most maids and housekeeping cleaners are trained on the job.

Education and Training

There are no formal training or education requirements. Most maids and housekeeping cleaners are trained on the job. Entry-level maids and housekeeping cleaners typically work alongside a more experienced cleaner and gain more responsibilities and more difficult work as they become experienced.

Important Qualities

Detail oriented. Because maids and housekeeping cleaners are responsible for cleaning rooms, they must pay close attention to detail. For example, household maids need to be thorough when polishing silver.

Interpersonal skills. Maids and housekeeping cleaners who work in private homes must get along well with the people who hire them. Those who work in hotels, hospitals, office buildings, and other places also often come into contact with people whose spaces they are cleaning. They must be polite and friendly.

Stamina. Maids and housekeeping cleaners must be able to spend the day on their feet, scrubbing, bending, and stretching, without getting overly tired. 

Pay About this section

The median annual wage of maids and housekeeping cleaners was $19,300 in May 2010. The median wage is the wage at which half the workers in an occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $15,980, and the top 10 percent earned more than $29,510.

The following are median annual wages for maids and housekeeping cleaners in select industries: 

Most maids and housekeeping cleaners work full time. Part-time maids and cleaners often work weekends and evenings, particularly those who work at hotels and hospitals.

Job Outlook About this section

Employment of maids and housekeeping cleaners is expected to grow 8 percent from 2010 to 2020, slower than the average for all occupations. Some new jobs are expected in hotels as demand for accommodations increases. Companies that supply cleaning services on a contract basis will also experience some growth, as more of this work is being contracted out.

Job Prospects

Despite slow employment growth, job opportunities are expected to be good overall and more favorable for those who have some experience. Some job openings will result from the need to replace workers who leave the occupation.

Contacts for More Information About this section

For more information about certification for maids and housekeeping cleaners, visit

Building Service Contractors Association International

International Executive Housekeepers Association