Temporary agency employment in Germany : High labour turnover and short job tenure

Abstract

"During the past decade, Germany has experienced a substantial growth in the temporary help service industry. In 2012, the temp sector employed about 2.5 per cent of the paid workforce. Despite the small size of the sector it plays an important role in job creation. However, there is little known about the labour turnover and job tenure in this sector so far. It is the aim of this policy brief to close this gap. We find that the job tenure in this sector is rather short: The median job duration is only about three months. Temp jobs filled by high qualified workers last about 5 months while the median job tenure of workers with no degree is about 2 months. During our observation period the job tenure has increased slightly: In 2000 about 16 percent of the temp workers were employed more than one year within the same agency, in 2010 the share was about 21 percent." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Haller, P. & Jahn, E. (2014): Zeitarbeit in Deutschland: Hohe Dynamik und kurze Beschäftigungsdauern. (IAB-Kurzbericht 13/2014), Nürnberg, 10 p.