Technology, uncertainty and fierce competition among manufacturers all contribute to volatility
June, 2004
DRACUT, Mass. -- Scott Gelinas spent the first eight years of his working life at the same manufacturer and planned to make a career there. His layoff in the summer of 2002 changed all that.
In the two years since, Gelinas, 27, of Dracut has worked at two other companies and, before too long, he could well be working at a third.
"Am I afraid of losing my job again? Yeah," said Gelinas, an electronics technician now working a three- to six-month assignment at a medical device-maker. "Is there a chance I'll go from temp to temp? Probably."
More Americans are finding themselves in similar positions as technology, global uncertainty and increasingly fierce competition restructure the U.S. work force. Just as companies adopted so-called "just in time" delivery and production methods to better match inventories to demand, so too are they increasingly relying on short-term labor to react more nimbly to changing business conditions.
The result: The temporary help industry is among the fastest-growing segments of the labor market. Employment in the sector has doubled since 1990, ballooning at a rate five times faster than national employment as a whole. By 2012, the Labor Department estimates, the sector will grow by another 50 percent and add some 1.8 million jobs.
The nature and extent of temporary hiring is also changing. Increasingly, larger temporary work forces are becoming permanent components of business strategies.
Until a few years ago, Axcelis Technologies Inc. of Beverly, Mass., which makes equipment for the highly cyclical semiconductor industry, followed the traditional pattern of mass hirings and mass layoffs. After cutting 40 percent of its workers during an industry downturn in 1998, the company decided it needed a different model.
Now, the company maintains a smaller core work force, with temporary employees making up 20 percent to 30 percent of the peak work force.
The advantage -- and savings -- come from the ability to ramp production up and down, lower severance costs, and avoid some of the corrosive effects of massive layoffs on worker morale and productivity, said Randy Longo, Axcelis's field human resources director.
Also changing are the types of jobs filled by temporary workers. In San Francisco, the staffing agency A4C Inc. temporarily hires out high-level executives with master's degrees in business administration to companies needing short-term expertise.
Kelly Services, the Michigan staffing agency, estimates that about one-fourth of U.S. workers are employed in some kind of temporary arrangement. Carl Camden, Kelly's president, said this "free agent" work force is growing not only because corporations want more flexibility, but also because workers do.
A major drawback to many temporary assignments, however, remains the lack of health insurance and other benefits. Some companies are revamping benefit plans to cover temp employees, in part because of the growing role of short-term labor in corporate work forces.
Gelinas, the Dracut manufacturing worker, said a benefit package sounds pretty good. Gelinas, who is earning about $10 an hour, hopes his current temp assignment turns into a permanent one.
"Someday," he said, "I'd love to be able to say, 'I've worked there for 20 years.' "
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