The origins of au pairs in the United States shift along with fluctuations in the global labor market, the Wall Street Journal hypothesized today. When employment conditions in their own countries improve, potential au pairs tend to find work at home; however, when job prospects worsen, they are more likely to look for child care employment in the United States. For example:

When the U.S. State Department launched its au pair program in 1986, British nannies…were its bread and jam, alongside the French, Germans and Swedes. But then opportunities in their home countries improved, and child care grew less desirable as a profession for young women (only a handful of au pair workers are men).