Are temporary jobs stepping stones or dead ends? A systematic review of the literature

Abstract

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the heterogeneous results about the impact of temporary jobs on subsequent labour market performances and to provide policymakers with further information on the effects of temporary contracts under particular circumstances.Design/methodology/approachThe authors present a quantitative systematic review on the debate about the “stepping stone vs dead end” hypothesis related to the causal effect of temporary jobs on future labour market performances.FindingsAmong 78 observations from 64 articles, 32% support the hypothesis according to which temporary contracts are a port of entry into stable employment positions, 23% report ambiguous or mixed findings and the remaining 45% provide evidence in favour of the dead end hypothesis. The results from meta-regressions suggest that the stepping stone effect is more likely to emerge when self-selectivity issues are dealt with. The studies focussing on temporary work agency jobs and casual/seasonal jobs support more easily the dead end hypothesis. Finally, in more recent years and when the unemployment rate is larger, the dead end hypothesis is more likely to prevail.Originality/valueAlthough many studies have been published on this issue, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, there are no recent analytic economic surveys on the “stepping stone vs dead end” debate. The main contribution of this article is to fill this gap.