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Working Paper
Wage differentials for temporary services work: evidence from administrative data
We use administrative data from the unemployment insurance system State of Washington to study the magnitude of the wage differential associated with work in the temporary services industry. We find that temp wage rates are 15% to 20% below the levels that might have been expected based on trends during other periods in workers' careers even after controlling for differences between temps and other workers. Comparing temp wages immediately before and after temp work or to the wages on non-temp jobs begun during the same period as workers were in the temp industry yields estimates of the temp ...
Working Paper
What are the short-run effects of increasing labor market flexibility?
This paper evaluates the short-run effects of introducing labor market flexibility to an economy characterized by large firing taxes. Different reforms are considered: 1) eliminating all firing taxes, 2) introducing flexible new contracts while retaining the firing taxes on workers employed previous to the reform, and 3) introducing temporary contracts. The paper finds that eliminating all firing taxes increases the unemployment rate much more in the short run than in the long run, that introducing new flexible contracts has similar effects as eliminating all firing taxes, and that ...
Journal Article
Spotlight: temporary employment
As the Texas economy expanded over the past two decades, firms increasingly relied on temporary workers to fill shortterm and seasonal staffing needs. In 1990, these employees accounted for less than 1.5 percent of Texas jobs. After peaking in 1999 and taking a recessionary dip, the number rebounded to 2.7 percent this year.
Working Paper
Measuring temporary labor outsourcing in U.S. manufacturing
Several analysts claim that firms have been using more flexible work arrangements in order to contain the costly adjustment of labor to changes in economic conditions. In particular, temporary help supply (THS) employment has increased dramatically in the last ten years. However, there is only scant evidence on the industries that are hiring this type of worker. In particular, some anecdotal evidence points to the fact that manufacturing industries have substantially stepped up their demand for THS workers since the mid-1980s. If this is true, not accounting for this flow of workers from the ...
Journal Article
Who are temporary nurses?
Using data from the National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses, the authors compare the characteristics of temporary and permanent registered nurses. They compare their findings for the nursing profession with characteristics of temporary and permanent workers in other occupations. They also look at the role of geography in a registered nurse?s decision to become a temporary worker.
Working Paper
The growth of temporary services work
Temporary services employment has expanded rapidly and now accounts for a sizable fraction of aggregate employment. The industry's workers are no longer overwhelmingly female or limited to clerical occupations. Temporary work is associated with variable weekly schedules and with part-year participation, but not with voluntarily part-time work. On average, temporary workers have less labor market security than permanent workers, being prone to both more unemployment and more underemployment. Relatively few of them, however, stay in temporary positions for as much as a year and the majority ...
Working Paper
Temporary employment and the natural rate of unemployment
This paper examines the determinants of the natural rate of unemployment using a combined cross section and time series data set. The results suggest that industry composition affects the natural rate. In particular, a higher share of temporary employment in a local labor market tends to lower the natural rate of unemployment--most likely through the matching function. The results suggest that the increase in the share of temporary employment may have reduced the natural rate as much as 1/4 percentage point. The results also indicate that unemployment insurance benefits tend to boost the ...
Journal Article
Temporary help services and the volatility of industry output
To gain a better understanding of how fluctuations in output influence firms' decision to hire temporary workers, the authors examine the relationship between output volatility and the use of temporary labor. They find that, all things being equal, temporary employment is higher in states with more volatile industries and lower in states with a relatively high degree of co-movement of industry output fluctuations.
Newsletter
Why do firms use temporary workers?
This article explores the pros and cons of using temporary workers and their permanent counterparts. It examines firms? various motivations for using temporary employment, accounting for geographical and industry differences.