Previous research has shown that temporary employment is negatively associated with many psychological and job-related outcomes, such as well-being, health, wages, organisational commitment, and job satisfaction. Among recent doctoral graduates, the proportion of temporary contracts is particularly high. However, research on the association…

This paper explores the temporary-permanent wage gap experienced by Italian graduate workers. To evaluate the wage gap along the entire wage distribution and account for heterogeneous effects of temporary employment, we apply the Recentered Influence Function (RIF) regression approach. The results suggest that the monthly net wage earned by…

Fixed-term contracts are a relatively recent, yet growing category of employment for teachers in the public school system in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. In this article, we draw on quantitative and qualitative data from a large state-wide survey (N = 18,234) of members of the public-school teacher union, the NSW Teachers' Federation, in…

The increasing casualisation of academic labour over recent years has been noted across the global north. In the UK, this takes a number of forms, including fixed term, hourly paid and zero hours contracts. What tends to characterise them all, however, is a focus on the short-term. In this paper, we draw on a qualitative study with 20 UK-based…

Through multilevel regression analysis, we examine the impact of managerialism, particularly accreditation practices, on the increasing job insecurity in universities. We find that universities that are accredited, private, secular or non-Catholic are more likely to offer insecure jobs, but that the relevance of these factors depends on each…

An increasing body of work has found higher education to be a challenging and stressful environment. Meanwhile, research on workaholism, characterised by an uncontrollable urge to work excessively, has been gaining momentum. However, few studies have explored its impact within higher education. This study addressed this gap by conducting 27…

The workforce of today and tomorrow, particularly graduates are likely to experience more challenges as the availability of permanent jobs are getting sparse. This is partly due to automatisation as well as technological development. However, with automatisation and technological development, new types of occupations have emerged, mainly related…

There is a growing divide between ongoing and precarious academics in Australia. Precarious academics are often exploited, underpaid, and have little hope of gaining permanency. In this article we offer suggestions to ongoing academics on how to improve the working lives and conditions of precarious colleagues. Our suggestions range from easy and…

Across three papers, I examine the influence of school-related factors on student outcomes in Brazil. In the first and second papers, I investigate the effects of teachers' contractual ties with the school on different outcomes. Two aspects of contractual ties were considered: 1) whether teachers hold a permanent or temporary contract, and 2)…

This paper examines the strategic use of temporary employment contracts in dealing with supply uncertainty in the form of employee ability that is slow to reveal itself, for example in academia where there exist significant time lags in demonstration of research ability. A temporary contract is modeled as a real option, specifically as a…

In this study, we assess the effects of temporary employment on job satisfaction and the personal lives of recent PhD graduates. Temporary employment is becoming increasingly prevalent in many sectors, but has been relatively common in academia, especially for early career scientists. Labor market theory shows temporary employment to have a…

In an undergraduate legal and ethical environment of business classes, the authors teach business students how to apply legal rules and ethical principles to problems that arise in business. Teaching the distinction between independent contractors and employees offers a rich, timely opportunity to improve students' critical thinking and…

At the end of the day, most of those in higher education feel gratified for having accomplished meaningful work but somewhat overwhelmed with the pile of work yet to be tackled. Still, they see the need to do more beyond that. Indeed, it is becoming clear that there is a growing need for more contact between educators and students and a need to…

Discusses the alternative arrangements of four groups of workers: (1) independent contractors; (2) temporary help agency workers; (3) employees of contract companies; and (4) on-call workers. (JOW)

Explains how the temporary help industry operates and lists some considerations when choosing a service. (JM)