The temporary help services industry and its client businesses claim they are responding to a shortage of qualified workers, which they blame on the educational system and even the women's movement. Temp work is not a uniform phenomenon, neither is it inherently inferior. Some temp work in law and information technology can be reasonably lucrative and prestigious. Nevertheless, most temp work is not worker friendly, since the flexibility of the temp usually means accepting the inflexibility of the agencies and clients. Furthermore, despite promises frequently made by temp agencies and their clients, most temporary positions are dead-end.
Workers now have two bosses, one of whom is paid to provide a service to the other.
The essence of that service is to provide employers with available, cheap and compliant workers. Thus, any attempt to blame temporary workers for their own proliferation is misleading. The temporary help services industry has taken pains to ensure its own success, lobbying arduously to keep itself unencumbered by regulation, according to the Penn State researcher. Co-workers and managers alike assume that something is wrong with the temp. As a result, temporary clerical workers are likely to be assigned the least desirable, most monotonous work in the office.