On the Wages of Temporary Help Service Workers in Germany

Michael Kvasnicka and Axel Werwatz

Labor and Demography from EconWPA

Abstract: This paper produces first econometric estimates for Germany of the contemporanous wage gap associated with Temporary Help Service (THS) employment, as well as the long-term effects of THS work on the future earnings of workers. In addition, we present evidence showing that average male real earnings in the THS industry have declined by about 9% in the period 1975-1995. Our estimates of the overall and group-specific wage gaps attached to THS work are large, albeit significantly smaller than those cited in the existing descriptive literature. Moreover, we find no evidence for any discernable negative average long-term earnings e¤ects of THS work. If anything, THS work seems to have aided workers in putting to a halt declines in their relative earnings observable before joining the THS market.

Keywords: temporary; help; services; agency; work; wages (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J30 J31 J40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eec and nep-lab
Date: 2003-09-16
Note: Type of Document - PDF; pages: 32 ; figures: included. This paper appeared in the discussion paper series of the Sonderforschungsbereich 373 at Humboldt-University Berlin in the summer of 2002. An updated version can be obtained from the authors upon request.
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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wpa:wuwpla:0309004

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