Outsourcing of jobs to contract workers who work alongside a client's employees has changed the human resource landscape of many organizations. In this study we examine how a contract worker's perceived employment status similarity to the client's own standard employees influences his/her affective commitment to both the client and the employer…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to verify whether higher education increases the likelihood of young Italian workers moving from non-standard to standard wage contracts. Design/methodology/approach: The authors exploit a data set on labour market flows, produced by the Italian National Statistical Office, by interviewing about 85,000…

This study replicates and extends Coyle-Shapiro and Morrow's study (Coyle-Shapiro, J.A.-M., & Morrow, P.C. 2006. Organizational and client commitment among contracted employees. "Journal of Vocational Behavior, 28," 416-431) of organizational and client commitment among contracted employees. Our study focuses on temporary workers rather than…

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

The increase of temporary workers, part-time workers, and consultants has caused corporations to make major changes in their human resource systems. These changes have produced both benefits and costs. Estimates of the growth of the contingent work force between 1980 and 1987 vary from 17 to 23 percent. (CH)

Increased casual employment and contract labor challenge the protective nature of Australian labor law. Laws and social policies should not cause casual and self-employed workers to be denied benefits nor allow employers to evade standards. (SK)

New information technologies, changing work force demographics, rising customer expectations, transnational companies, and cost pressures are altering traditional views of what constitutes a workplace and have given rise to a new trend: the mobile worker in the flexible workplace. Two factors promote acceptance of telework or telecommuting: (1)…

The world of stable, long-term employment is coming to an end. Part-time, contingent, and contract workers now account for more than 35% of the U.S. work force. It has been suggested that individuals will become "portfolio workers" with "portfolio careers." Individuals will maintain portfolios of their skills, abilities, and achievements and will…

Proposes strategies for improving the status of graduate students and new doctorate recipients: a bill of rights for graduate teaching assistants, unionizing teaching assistants, making teaching assistants employees, paying a living wage, challenging the budget priority given faculty salaries, urging community colleges to hire doctorates,…

Some companies are making dramatic changes in their personnel practices. Research findings at Travelers Insurance Company led to the creation of a retiree job bank that lists retired persons available for temporary and part-time work at the company. (Author/MLF)

The policy options offered in the literature concerning temporary work address two major concerns: (1) the conditions of temporary work itself; and (2) the elimination of fulltime jobs, or lack of growth, and their replacement by temporary work. Both temporary help firms and the organizations that use temporary help should be required to report on…

The purpose of this study was to discover what private companies are doing in the field of manpower utilization. Aspects of the subject covered by this survey are manpower audit, motivation, temporary help, handling of job changes, and the union's effect on manpower utilization. Sixty-five percent of the participating companies employ 1,000 or…

This report summarizes the presentations and discussions at a conference on contingent labor sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor. The first two sections are introductory: (1) "Introduction to the Role of Contingent Labor" (Kathleen Christensen, Mary Murphree); and (2) "Between Now and the Year 2000: A Glimpse of the Workplace" (Jill Houghton…

A study examined why employers use temporary agency and contract company workers and implications of these practices for wages, benefits, and working conditions of workers in low-skilled labor markets. Case studies in manufacturing (automotive supply), services (hospitals), and public sector (primary and secondary schools) industries defined the…

Successful welfare reform requires quickly moving welfare recipients into jobs. Components to this challenge include the following: a poor fit between where jobs are located and where many welfare recipients live; recipients who lack experience and skills and do not know how to seek, find, or qualify for jobs; childcare and transportation needs;…