IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izapps/pp70.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

How Does Temporary Agency Work Impact German Agency Workers?

Author

Listed:
  • Spermann, Alexander

    (University of Freiburg)

Abstract

The enormous speed of change in the working world is associated with greater job insecurity. As a dynamic external flexibilization instrument, temporary agency work is characterized by high labor turnover rates. As a result, agency workers might perceive more job insecurity than permanent staff. This paper surveys German empirical studies on outcome variables such as job satisfaction, commitment, health, employability, social participation and effects on personal life for agency workers. It is enriched by practical experience gathered at Randstad, Germany’s leading staffing firm, and also provides a summary of recent research on job stability for agency workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Spermann, Alexander, 2013. "How Does Temporary Agency Work Impact German Agency Workers?," IZA Policy Papers 70, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izapps:pp70
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/pp70.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Spermann, Alexander, 2011. "The New Role of Temporary Agency Work in Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 6180, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Walwei, Ulrich, 2014. "Times of change: what drives the growth of work arrangements in Germany?," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 47(3), pages 183-204.
    3. Marcel Garz, 2013. "Labour Market Segmentation: Standard and Non-Standard Employment in Germany," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 14(3), pages 349-371, August.
    4. Spermann, Alexander, 2013. "Sector Surcharges for Temporary Agency Workers in Germany: A Way Out of the Low-Wage Sector?," IZA Policy Papers 67, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Elke J. Jahn & Regina T. Riphahn & Claus Schnabel, 2012. "Feature: Flexible Forms of Employment: Boon and Bane," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 122(562), pages 115-124, August.
    6. Eichhorst, Werner & Tobsch, Verena, 2013. "Has Atypical Work Become Typical in Germany?," IZA Discussion Papers 7609, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Alexander Spermann, 2013. "Die Demografi estrategie der Bundesregierung — ein Weg zu mehr Wohlstand?," Wirtschaftsdienst, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 93(3), pages 165-169, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bofinger, Peter & Buch, Claudia M. & Feld, Lars P. & Schmidt, Christoph M. & Wieland, Volker, 2013. "Gegen eine rückwärtsgewandte Wirtschaftspolitik. Jahresgutachten 2013/14 [Against a backward-looking economic policy. Annual Report 2013/14]," Annual Economic Reports / Jahresgutachten, German Council of Economic Experts / Sachverständigenrat zur Begutachtung der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung, volume 127, number 201314.
    2. Alexander Spermann, 2014. "Wandel und Stabilität in der Arbeitswelt — Das Beispiel der Zeitarbeit," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 66(68), pages 88-101, January.
    3. Andreas Kappeler & Andrés Fuentes Hutfilter, 2014. "Making Economic Growth more Socially Inclusive in Germany," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1175, OECD Publishing.
    4. Alexander Spermann, 2016. "How can temporary work agencies provide more training?," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 251-251, April.
    5. Eichhorst, Werner, 2015. "Do We Have to Be Afraid of the Future World of Work?," IZA Policy Papers 102, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Klimczuk, Andrzej & Klimczuk-Kochańska, Magdalena, 2016. "Dual Labor Market," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, pages 1-3.
    7. Böhm, Michael Johannes & Gaudecker, Hans-Martin von & Schran, Felix, 2019. "Occupation Growth, Skill Prices, and Wage Inequality," IZA Discussion Papers 12647, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Chamdani Chamdani & Krisnadi Nasution & Slamet Suhartono & Hufron Hufron, 2022. "Legal protection for outsourced workers/laborers due to termination of employment during the contract period," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 34(1), pages 283-311, August.
    9. Ehrich, Malte & Munasib, Abdul & Roy, Devesh, 2018. "The Hartz reforms and the German labor force," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 284-300.
    10. Avram, Silvia, 2020. "Zero-hours contracts: flexibility or insecurity? Experimental evidence from a low income population," ISER Working Paper Series 2020-10, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    11. Chadi, Adrian & Hetschko, Clemens, 2013. "Flexibilisation without hesitation? Temporary contracts and workers' satisfaction," Discussion Papers 2013/3, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.
    12. A. Arrighetti & F. Landini, 2018. "Eterogeneità delle imprese e stagnazione del capitalismo italiano," Economics Department Working Papers 2018-EP01, Department of Economics, Parma University (Italy).
    13. Woodcock, Simon D., 2023. "The determinants of displaced workers’ wages: Sorting, matching, selection, and the Hartz reforms," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 233(2), pages 568-595.
    14. Simon Woodcock, 2022. "The Determinants of Displaced Workers’ Wages: Sorting, Matching, Selection, and the Hartz Reforms," Discussion Papers dp22-04, Department of Economics, Simon Fraser University.
    15. Lutz Bellmann & Hans-Dieter Gerner & Christian Hohendanner, 2014. "Fixed-term contracts and dismissal protection. Evidence from a policy reform in Germany," Working Paper Series in Economics 320, University of Lüneburg, Institute of Economics.
    16. Wolfinger, Julia & Köhler, Ekkehard A. & Feld, Lars P. & Thomas, Tobias, 2018. "57 Channels (And Nothin On): Does TV-News on the Eurozone affect Government Bond Yield Spreads?," VfS Annual Conference 2018 (Freiburg, Breisgau): Digital Economy 181610, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    17. David Jordhus-Lier & Anders Underthun & Kristina Zampoukos, 2019. "Changing workplace geographies: Restructuring warehouse employment in the Oslo region," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 51(1), pages 69-90, February.
    18. Smirnych, L. I. & Wörgötter, Andreas, 2016. "The importance of institutional and organizational characteristics for the use of fixed-term and agency work contracts in Russia," ECON WPS - Working Papers in Economic Theory and Policy 09/2016, TU Wien, Institute of Statistics and Mathematical Methods in Economics, Economics Research Unit.
    19. Henna Busk & Christine Dauth & Elke J. Jahn, 2017. "Do Changes in Regulation Affect Temporary Agency Workers’ Job Satisfaction?," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(3), pages 514-544, July.
    20. Jahn, Elke Jutta & Rosholm, Michael, 2015. "The Cyclicality of the Stepping Stone Effect of Temporary Agency Employment," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 113117, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    employability; commitment; job satisfaction; staffing industry; temporary agency work;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education
    • J2 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor
    • J4 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izapps:pp70. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.