Temporary Jobs, Intermediate Positions or Jumping Boards; Searching for the Stepping-Stone Effect of Temporary Employment

Abstract

A substantial share of the people currently employed on a temporary contract will be in regular jobs a year from now. A review of the literature shows that this is true for several European countries, except Spain. Spain is a country where researchers find segmentation on the labour market. In France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy and the Netherlands temporary employment is often an intermediate position between unemployment and regular work. The fact that temporary work is often an intermediate position does not necessarily imply that temporary jobs serve as jumping boards towards regular employment. The intermediate temporary job might slow down the search for a regular job or even hinder it if employers regard having a temporary job as a negative signal of a worker's ability. Duration analyses applied to Germany, the Netherlands and Italy lead to the conclusion that temporary jobs are indeed jumping boards, while in Spain no jumping board effect is found.