Working in the global economy

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During the early 1970 's the temporary agencies were only really visible in the US , and the European markets of the UK , France and the Netherlands . The industry has now become truly international . Estimates suggest it is now worth some US 120 billion annually (Staffing Industry Analysts , Inc , 2003 . The development of temporary agencies forms an integral part of these new dynamics of labor market regulation Growth of multi national investment in the 1990s and the entrance of one or two multi national

agencies created the conditions for agency business to expand slowly in the absence of formal legal recognition

Temporary agencies are increasingly playing a systematic macro regulatory role in the US labor market , where they now account for a big share of costs of labor market adjustment . Temporary agencies development is closely linked with the wider restructuring of the US economy where it has assumed a significant presence as a low cost flexibly mediated labor

During the last thirty years , the temporary agencies have moved from the role of staffing provider , supplying short term cover for eventualities such as seasonal spikes and maternal leaves in demand They now have a more systematic and continuous function , mediating between companies personnel offices and their labor suppliers across an increasingly broad array of industries and occupations

Temporary agencies ability to embed themselves in the labor market has been remarkable so that now it can be seen as a sign of flexibility not just at the `micro ' level (meeting the needs of individual enterprises but also at the `macro ' level mediating socio-economic risks ad macro economic pressures across the labor market as a whole

Some employers have turned to temporary staff agencies to source workers for high-turnover or undesirable jobs such as assembly , loading and packing which demand physical work . Others utilize temporary workers as a recruitment and screening pool for permanent employees as is often the case now in clerical labor market . The form and rationale of temporary employment relationships therefore vary significantly they range from the large-scale deployment of replaceable day-laborers in construction and manual service work through to few assignments of professionals with unique skills set in fields such as IT and healthcare (Melchionno , 1999

Standing between employer and the employee , staffing agencies have assumed important , third party roles in screening , recruitment placement and reassignment in job design , in supervision and labor control and in the structuring of remuneration and incentive systems . By this they shield firms from regulatory costs , such as exposure to worker 's compensation claims or unemployment insurance , while also denying temporary workers benefits such as health insurance and pension entitlements

There is strong evidence in the historically dislike pattern of the employment restructuring around the 2001 recession that temporary agencies are beginning to register significant economy wide effects They performed a `shock absorber ' function enabling businesses to externalize the costs of economic fluctuations and regulatory risks They absorb all the employment related costs of a cyclical downturn thereby preventing...