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The center report focuses on the rapid growth in the use of low-paying temporary positions, which account for nine percent of all frontline jobs in manufacturing, a nine-fold increase from 25 years ago, when less than one percent of production workers were employed by staffing agencies.
I was in staffing for a long time. The reason most of them use staffing agencies now has more to do with the government and risk adversion than anything else. Because of all the regulations and gov complience now the riskiest thing someone can do now is hire someone. So they pass the risk onto the staffing agency. They dont save much on hourly wage say someone is making $10 an hour through the staffing agency the company is likely paying the staffing agency $15-18 an hour for their work. Thats how the agency makes their money. But the agency pays the workers comp insurance, payroll taxes, takes all liability off their hands, having to provide health insurance off their hands, takes the risk of being sued off their hands, this is all structured in the staffing contract. If we were to roll back workers rights/regulatory law back to the Reagan era these companies would stop using staffing agencies and just pay the workers what they are paying the staffing agency. But of course that would be politically impossible to do.
I was in staffing for a long time. The reason most of them use staffing agencies now has more to do with the government and risk adversion than anything else. Because of all the regulations and gov complience now the riskiest thing someone can do now is hire someone. So they pass the risk onto the staffing agency. They dont save much on hourly wage say someone is making $10 an hour through the staffing agency the company is likely paying the staffing agency $15-18 an hour for their work. Thats how the agency makes their money. But the agency pays the workers comp insurance, payroll taxes, takes all liability off their hands, having to provide health insurance off their hands, takes the risk of being sued off their hands, this is all structured in the staffing contract. If we were to roll back workers rights/regulatory law back to the Reagan era these companies would stop using staffing agencies and just pay the workers what they are paying the staffing agency. But of course that would be politically impossible to do.
Along these same lines many companies such as Nike, Adidas, etc, do not own one manufacturing plant. They buy their products (speced by them) from contract suppliers. When the demand drops off, they just stop buying and do not have to face layoffs, factory closing, write offs, etc. No responsibility.
Same as hiring from a staffing agency. Things slow down just say bye bye to the workers. No need to discuss severance, etc. all that nasty stuff that comes with laying off employees.No responsibility.
Along these same lines many companies such as Nike, Adidas, etc, do not own one manufacturing plant. They buy their products (speced by them) from contract suppliers. When the demand drops off, they just stop buying and do not have to face layoffs, factory closing, write offs, etc. No responsibility.
Same as hiring from a staffing agency. Things slow down just say bye bye to the workers. No need to discuss severance, etc. all that nasty stuff that comes with laying off employees.No responsibility.
A lot of companies even call the workers supplied by staffing agencies terms like "flex workers" to denote that they are the ones that get hours when demand is high and get nothing when demand is slow. It's hard to not adopt a similar model if your competitors in the marketplace have already incorporated this into their business.
Why wouldn't Berkeley's Center for Labor Research and Education not be a valid source for business? We're talking about one of the nation's top universities.
Why wouldn't Berkeley's Center for Labor Research and Education not be a valid source for business? We're talking about one of the nation's top universities.
It is an exceptional university with a remarkably left leaning bias. Just read the article. They cherry picked data to reach their conclusion. Hence the bit I quoted.
I was in staffing for a long time. The reason most of them use staffing agencies now has more to do with the government and risk adversion than anything else. Because of all the regulations and gov complience now the riskiest thing someone can do now is hire someone. So they pass the risk onto the staffing agency. They dont save much on hourly wage say someone is making $10 an hour through the staffing agency the company is likely paying the staffing agency $15-18 an hour for their work. Thats how the agency makes their money. But the agency pays the workers comp insurance, payroll taxes, takes all liability off their hands, having to provide health insurance off their hands, takes the risk of being sued off their hands, this is all structured in the staffing contract. If we were to roll back workers rights/regulatory law back to the Reagan era these companies would stop using staffing agencies and just pay the workers what they are paying the staffing agency. But of course that would be politically impossible to do.
Excellent points. It isn't about keeping people down, it's about CYA.
It is an exceptional university with a remarkably left leaning bias. Just read the article. They cherry picked data to reach their conclusion. Hence the bit I quoted.
I completely disagree (and I read the actual report, not just the article), and even other posters commented about how the heavy use of staffing agencies for manufacturing jobs plays a very significant role here. But we can agree to disagree.
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