Browsing by Subject "Temporary agency work"

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Deregulation of temporary agency employment in a unionized economy : does this really lead to a substitution of regular employment
(2016) Baudy, Philipp; Cords, Dario
There have been continuous deregulation efforts concerning temporary agency employment in almost all European countries aiming at an increasing exibility in the European labor markets. This paper theoretically investigates the effects of a legal deregulation of temporary agency employment on wage setting and the employment structure in a unionized economy with labor market frictions. Multiple-worker firms bargain simultaneously with temporary agencies and labor unions to determine the respective labor costs. It is shown that there is a hump-shaped relationship between the degree of legal deregulation of temporary agency employment and the rate of temporary employment used in the production process. Temporary agency employment may even decrease despite its deregulation. Furthermore, regular employment monotonically increases, while individual workers and labor unions suffer from deregulation due to declining wages and a reduction in labor unions utility.
Die Intensität der Leiharbeitsnutzung in Deutschland. Eine empirische Analyse von betrieblichen Determinanten
(2013) Schröpfer, Stefanie; Wagenhals, Gerhard
Since the legal basis of temporary agency work has been relaxed in the context of the Hartz reforms in 2003/2004, firms use of temporary work has come under severe criticism: Firms are accused of using temporary work not only for flexibility reasons, but also to reduce costs strategically. As a result, permanent employees would be replaced by temporary workers. The use of temporary work as a strategic instrument has only been confirmed by qualitative studies so far. In particular, these studies show that a persistently intensive use aims at reducing the current personnel costs and avoiding costs of institutional arrangements arising from permanent but not from temporary employees. Given the increasing number of temporary workers in German firms, microeconometric studies have investigated the impact of high shares of temporary employees on firms’ performance. However, up to now, there is no quantitative evidence to what extent firms demand for temporary work can be explained by motives of strategic use. This thesis empirically examines the quantitative relevance of firms motives to use temporary work strategically with regard to the intensity of use. More specifically, this thesis addresses two main questions: First, what is the impact of the strategic motives of firms on the scale of employing temporary workers? Second, to what extent has the relevance of specific strategic motives changed after the deregulation of the temporary employment industry? To this end, this study draws on data from the Establishment Panel of the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) to analyse firms demand on temporary work using microeconometric methods, which are predominantly applied for the first time in this context. In a nutshell, the estimation results indicate that temporary work as a strategic instrument for cutting costs has become more important after the deregulation of the temporary employment industry. There is strong evidence that firms use temporary work more intensively and also persistently intensive to reduce their current personnel costs particularly in the low-skill sector. In addition, firms apparently use temporary work to avoid potential lay-off costs since the deregulation took place. While the results further suggest that firms try to strengthen their competitiveness by using temporary work, there are no clear signs for circumventing costs arising from collective agreements.
Matching und Zeitarbeit : Theoretische Analysen zu den Auswirkungen der Leiharbeit auf den Arbeitsmarkt
(2012) Pfleger, Stefan; Beißinger, Thomas
Since 1990 temporary agency work has increased rapidly in most western countries. Despite that fact, the academic research about this trend is still at the beginning. This dissertation contributes to the theoretical field of research by investigating the effects of the existence of temporary work agencies on the labor market. Using different kinds of matching-models, the analysis focuses on the identification of the growth-determinants of temporary agency work and the various kinds of effects that temporary agency work can have on the performance of the labor market. Chapter 2 gives an overview about the phenomenon ?temporary agency work?, its legal framework in Germany and the motives of firms and individuals, which use the services of temporary work agencies. In addition, some data of the structure and development of temporary agency work in Germany is presented. An introduction into (standard) matching-models of the labor market is given in chapters 3 to 5. Afterwards, the traditional matching-framework is used to analyze the intermediation-function of temporary work agencies. In Chapter 6 to 8 a modification of the traditional matching-framework is made by explicitly incorporating temporary agency work as an additional labor market segment. By doing so, it is possible to analyze the interaction with other kinds of labor market institutions, such as employment protection. The model presented in Chapter 6 investigates whether the deregulation of temporary agency work has contributed to its rapid growth. Furthermore it is discussed under which circumstances the expansion of the temporary work sector leads to the growding-out of regular jobs. Afterwards, an empirical analysis examines the effects of the deregulation process on the growth of temporary agency work in Germany. Chapter 7 shows that there are also factors outside the temporary work sector that can explain its growing importance. The model developed in this chapter is used to analyze the effects of firing-costs on the temporary work sector. Furthermore it is asked which effects the existence of the temporary work sector has on labor market performance when the regular sector becomes more rigid. The model developed in chapter 8 analyzes the wage-effects of temporary work. Initially, the analysis focuses on the effects of a change of the wage-differential between regular and temporary agency work. Finaly it is shown what effects the growth of the agency work sector can have on the wages of temporary and regular workers.
The impact of temporary agency work on trade union wage setting : a theoretical analysis
(2015) Baudy, Philipp; Beißinger, Thomas
Focusing on the cost-reducing motive behind the use of temporary agency employment, this paper aims at providing a better theoretical understanding of the effects of temporary agency work on the wage-setting process, trade unions’ rents, firms’ profits and employment. It is shown that trade unions may find it optimal to accept lower wages to prevent firms from using temporary agency workers. Hence, the firms’ option to use agency workers may affect wage setting also in those firms that only employ regular workers. However, if firms decide to employ agency workers, trade union wage claims will increase for the (remaining) regular workers. An intensive use of temporary agency workers in high-wage firms may therefore be the cause and not the consequence of the high wage level in those firms. Even though we assume monopoly unions that ascribe the highest possible wage-setting power to the unions, the economic rents of trade unions decline because of the firms’ option to use temporary agency work, whereas firms’ profits may increase.