The Rise and Implications of Temporary Staffing as a Migration Industry in Norway

Abstract

Temporary staffing agencies have recently emerged as a significant ‘migration industry’ in Norway, actively recruiting and facilitating the employment of workers from new eastern EU states (EU10). This article explores how such agencies shape patterns of mobility and labour market incorporation among migrant workers. Although agencies promote circular and temporary mobility for western European labour migrants, this is not the case for the eastern European migrant workers. Although temporary staffing jobs are often short-term stepping stones into regular employment for native workers, migrant workers far more often remain employed within staffing agencies for many years. Finally, the eastern European migrants recruited through agencies have far lower earnings and are more at risk of needing public benefits than those hired directly. The findings show that the temporary staffing industry has functioned as a spearhead for establishing a permanent, yet hyper-flexible and highly precarious migrant workforce in the otherwise highly regulated Norwegian labour market.