Have you been living in a cave or are you just naive? The vast majority of nannies in this country are employed off the books. Read the survey. Most parents would love to pay on the books but they can not afford to. Why? Because unlike in many industrialised countries, child care is not subsidized. There's so much lip service paid to the importance of children but when it comes to making sure that cheap, high quality care is available to everyone and provided by well paid, well trained individuals it's every famly for themselves.