Uncertainty Is Just Going On Forever And Ever....
Temporary workers are starting to seem a lot less temporary, the NYT reports.
As temp jobs have made up more than a quarter of post-recession jobs added, a much larger percentage than in previous recoveries, labor experts are predicting that these jobs are here to stay, that companies are choosing to rely more on temporary workers and less on fulltime employees.
This is bad news for the temp workers themselves, who, as the Times reminds us, “generally receive fewer benefits or none at all, and have virtually no job security. It is harder for them to save. And it is much more difficult for them to develop a career arc while hopping from boss to boss.”
There are a number of factors driving this trend: one is the way work is organized these days. Says the Times, “businesses now tend to organize around short- to medium-term projects that can be doled out to temporary or contract workers.” And flexibility is another factor: it’s much easier to end a bunch of temp contracts than to actually go through layoffs.
Another factor not mentioned by the NYT are the millennials, who are (typically) accustomed to working on multiple projects spanning multiple disciplines, not coming into the same office for years and doing the same daily grind over and over again.
Whatever the reason, it seems temps are…well, becoming permanent.
