Do temporary help jobs improve labor market outcomes for low-skilled workers?
Subtitle: evidence from random assignments
By: David H. Autor, Susan Houseman.
Contributors: Houseman, Susan N., 1956-; National Bureau of Economic Research.
Series: NBER working paper series ;; working paper 11743; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) ;; working paper no. 11743.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2005
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: Electronic resource
Subjects: Temporary employment -- United States.; Unskilled labor -- Supply and demand -- United States.; Labor supply -- United States.; Labor market -- United States.
Description: "A disproportionate share of low-skilled U.S.  workers is employed by temporary help firms.  These firms offer rapid entry into paid employment, but temporary help jobs are typically brief and it is unknown whether they foster longer-term employment.  We draw upon an unusual, large-scale policy experiment in the state of Michigan to evaluate whether holding temporary help jobs facilitates labor market advancement for low-skilled workers.  To identify these effects, we exploit the random assignment of welfare-to-work clients across numerous welfare service providers in a major metropolitan area.  These providers feature substantially different placement rates at temporary help jobs but offer otherwise similar services.  We find that moving welfare participants into temporary help jobs boosts their short-term earnings.  But these gains are offset by lower earnings, less frequent employment, and potentially higher welfare recidivism over the next one to two years.  In contrast, placements in direct-hire jobs raise participants' earnings substantially and reduce recidivism both one and two years following placement.  We conclude that encouraging low-skilled workers to take temporary help agency jobs is no more effective - and possibly less effective - than providing no job placements at all"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
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