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RESEARCH PRODUCT
Job attitudes, behaviours and well-being among different types of temporary workers in Europe and Israel
José RamosBeatriz SoraAmparo CaballerJosé M. PeiróFrancisco J. Graciasubject
Organizational Behavior and Human Resource ManagementLabour economicsManagement of Technology and InnovationStrategy and ManagementWell-beingWorkforceAgency (sociology)Life satisfactionJob attitudeBusinessEmployabilityEmployment contractFlexicuritydescription
Applying an innovative typology based on preference for temporary em- ployment and perceived employability, the authors empirically examine four types of temporary workers (and a group of permanent workers for comparison). In a sample of 1,300 employees from six countries, they find significant differences between the four types on a broad set of variables - including demographic and job characteristics, attitude and insecurity - but not in life satisfaction and well-being. They conclude with an argument against the equation of temporary employment with low-skilled workers unable to find a permanent job, stressing the valuable implications of more sensitive research for policy-making on flexicurity. emporary work is an inherent feature of current employment relations in T Europe. In the EU-27 in 2005, an average of 22 per cent of employees were working under non-permanent contracts; 7 per cent of them had no for- mal employment contract at all and the remaining 15 per cent worked under a variety of temporary arrangements (such as fixed-term contracts or temporary employment agency contracts), with substantial differences between countries. In the EU-15, temporary employment increased from 4.3 per cent in 1983 to about 14 per cent in 2005 (Parent-Thirion et al., 2007; see also Paoli and Merl- lie, 2001). Given that temporary workers are traditionally seen as a homoge- neous group of low-skilled employees who would prefer a permanent job, there is an urgent need for a better understanding of this group of workers because a considerable share of the workforce is now employed under temporary con- tractual arrangements. This article contributes to existing research in several ways. It starts by showing why it is important to understand the heterogeneity of temporary workers.
year | journal | country | edition | language |
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2011-12-01 | International Labour Review |