Do Changes in Regulation Affect Temporary Agency Workers’ Job Satisfaction?

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research at DIW BerlinThis series presents research findings based either directly on data from the German SocioEconomic Panel study (SOEP) or using SOEP data as part of an internationally comparable data set (e.g. CNEF, ECHP, LIS, LWS, CHER/PACO). SOEP is a truly multidisciplinary household panel study covering a wide range of social and behavioral sciences: economics, sociology, psychology, survey methodology, econometrics and applied statistics, educational science, political science, public health, behavioral genetics, demography, geography, and sport science.The decision to publish a submission in SOEPpapers is made by a board of editors chosen by the DIW Berlin to represent the wide range of disciplines covered by SOEP. There is no external referee process and papers are either accepted or rejected without revision. Papers appear in this series as works in progress and may also appear elsewhere. They often represent preliminary studies and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be requested from the author directly.Any opinions expressed in this series are those of the author(s) and not those of DIW Berlin.Research disseminated by DIW Berlin may include views on public policy issues, but the institute itself takes no institutional policy positions. Abstract: This paper evaluates the impact on temporary agency workers' job satisfaction of a reform that considerably changed regulations covering the temporary help service sector in Germany. We isolate the causal effect of this reform by combining a difference-in-difference and matching approach and using rich survey data. We find that the change of the law substantially decreased agency workers' job satisfaction while regular workers' job satisfaction remained unchanged. Further analysis reveals that the negative effect on agency workers' job satisfaction can be attributed to a decrease in wages and an increase in perceived job insecurity. These results are also robust to the use of different specifications and placebo tests.JEL: J28, J41, J88

Four Decades of the Economics of Happiness: Where Next?

“…The same kind of analysis of allocation on the labor market can be carried out within employees, looking at public‐ versus private‐sector jobs (Luechinger et al ., ), part‐time versus full‐time jobs (Booth and Van Ours, ), and temporary versus permanent work (Busk et al ., ). Moving away from simple binary comparisons of this type, we can consider the choice of different occupations and industries.…”

Work motivation and reactions to injustice of temporary workers: Roles of social identities, autonomy, and compensations

“…In fact, the hidden costs perspective has received mixed evidence mainly because temporary workers are far from being a homogeneous group ( Gracia et al, 2011 ). Globally, more positive outcomes were observed for fixed-term, longer duration, qualification-matching, high wage, and voluntarily chosen temporary contracts (i.e., for compensated and autonomous temporary workers), whereas negative outcomes were more prevalent for agency and casual work contracts, chosen under constraint, with shorter duration, low paid, and matching little the qualifications (i.e., for low-compensated /low-autonomy temporary workers) ( Busk et al, 2017 ; Campbell, 2004 ; Chambel & Castanheira, 2007 ; Dawson et al, 2017 ; De Cuyper & De Witte, 2007 ; Feldman et al, 1995 ; Krausz, 2000 ).…”

Temporary Agency Work and Well-Being—The Mediating Role of Job Insecurity

“…This situation illustrates that policy measures are likewise important beyond work design concepts. In this respect Busk et al (2015) [ 90 ] pointed out that policy regulations also have an effect on job insecurity and job satisfaction of TA workers. In their study, they showed that the deregulation of TAW in Germany in the early 2000s led to lower job satisfaction among male TA workers.…”