The changing face of temp work
May 30, 2001
A weekly presentation of downloadable charts and short analyses designed to graphically illustrate important economic issues. Updated every Wednesday.
Snapshot for May 30, 2001.
The changing face of temp work
Misconceptions about temporary help employment abound. A leading misconception is that temp work is performed overwhelmingly by women and primarily at office sites. Yet women now make up just over half--52.5%--of the temp labor force, and, moreover, temps have a huge presence in manufacturing: as of 1999 nearly 30% of temps were employed in that sector, compared to only 16.5% of regular full-time workers (US DOL ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/news.release/History/conemp.12211999.news).
As the graph illustrates, the share of women temp workers peaked at 65% in 1982 and has been on a steady decline ever since. This trend is the result not so much of women departing the sector as it is of men coming into it-in large part in manufacturing jobs, not clerical ones. Thus, the "Kelly Girl" image notwithstanding, temp work has becoming increasingly male and disproportionately manufacturing.
This week's Snapshot by EPI economist Jeffrey Wenger.
Check out the archive for past Economic Snapshots.
Sign Up to Stay Informed
Search EPI sites
More Snapshots
- American factories operating near record low utilization
- Unemployed wait longer and longer for jobs
- Where has all the income gone? Look up.
- Leaving in droves
- The Recovery Act worked
- Immigration helps boost relative wages of U.S.-born workers at all levels of education
- Worst economic crisis since the Great Depression? By a long shot.
- The Corrosive Effects of Inequality on Health
- Private sources of spending cannot sustain job growth
- Layoffs moderating, but hiring not yet picking up
- Many children left behind
- High unemployment: A fact of life for American Indians
- Calling in sick not an option for most low-paid workers
- State and local budget shortfalls will cause heavy drag on growth
- Jobs creation effort needs to focus on good jobs
- Minorities, less-educated workers see staggering rates of underemployment
- Money to spare for health care
- Highest earners get biggest tax breaks for saving for retirement
- Public health insurance offsets large losses in private coverage
- Most black children grow up in neighborhoods with significant poverty
- More...
