ABSTRACT

In the United States, employment through the temporary staffing 1 industry increased five times more rapidly than employment economy-wide between 1972 and 2000. And, at their peak in 2000, temporary agencies accounted for almost 3 per cent of U.S. daily employment (Autor 2004). From 1972 to 2000, temporary agencies became the most widespread form of labour market intermediary, accounting for more workers than all other types of labour market intermediaries combined (Benner, Leete, and Pastor 2007). At the same time, temporary staffing agencies employed a disproportionate share of low-skilled and minority U.S. workers (U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics 2005). In the low-wage labour market, temp work (i.e., employment in the staffing industry) is especially prevalent among graduates of government- and philanthropy-financed employment and training programs. State-level government data show that 15 to 40 per cent of former public assistance recipients in employment following the 1996 U.S. welfare reform took temp jobs (Autor and Houseman 2010). A growing number of entry-level workers with low levels of formal education and skills turn to temp work to locate and evaluate job opportunities, represent their skills, and access jobs (Carré and Joshi 2000; Giloth 2004).