- Non-permanent workers, including temporary and agency employees, make up around 6% of the UK workforce and have remained stable over time. - They tend to be younger workers and are concentrated in less skilled occupations with lower pay than permanent roles. - Employers use non-permanent staff primarily to match fluctuating demand and obtain specialized skills, not as a way to cut costs or avoid legal obligations. - While temporary jobs have less security, benefits, and opportunities for development, workers report similar or even lower levels of stress than permanent employees.

1. Non-permanent workers: the
current landscape
Mark Beatson
Chief Economist
CIPD

2. Contents
• How many are non-permanent workers are there? How has this
changed over time?
• Who are they? What types of job do they do?
• How do we compare with other countries?
• Why do employers take on non-permanent workers – and why don’t
they?
• Are temporary jobs ‘bad jobs’?
• Putting temporary work in context: freelancers and zero hours
workers

3. Measurement
• UK (and EU) LFS: “Leaving aside your own personal intentions and
circumstances, was your job …
– A permanent job
– Or was there some way it was not permanent?”
• Respondents define status themselves and in terms of deviance
from permanence
• These statistical definitions do not correspond to status under
employment law – references to ‘temporary employees’ simply
mean respondents were not self-employed

4. Temporary employees, 1992-2014
(UK, seasonally adjusted)
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
0
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
1,600
1,800
2,000
Mar-May1992
Nov-Jan1993
Jul-Sep1993
Mar-May1994
Nov-Jan1995
Jul-Sep1995
Mar-May1996
Nov-Jan1997
Jul-Sep1997
Mar-May1998
Nov-Jan1999
Jul-Sep1999
Mar-May2000
Nov-Jan2001
Jul-Sep2001
Mar-May2002
Nov-Jan2003
Jul-Sep2003
Mar-May2004
Nov-Jan2005
Jul-Sep2005
Mar-May2006
Nov-Jan2007
Jul-Sep2007
Mar-May2008
Nov-Jan2009
Jul-Sep2009
Mar-May2010
Nov-Jan2011
Jul-Sep2011
Mar-May2012
Nov-Jan2013
Jul-Sep2013
Mar-May2014
as%ofemployees
Thousands
Source: Labour Force Survey, ONS.

5. Reasons for temporary working,
1992-2014
(UK, seasonally adjusted)
0
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
1,600
1,800
2,000
Mar-May1992
Dec-Feb1993
Sep-Nov1993
Jun-Aug1994
Mar-May1995
Dec-Feb1996
Sep-Nov1996
Jun-Aug1997
Mar-May1998
Dec-Feb1999
Sep-Nov1999
Jun-Aug2000
Mar-May2001
Dec-Feb2002
Sep-Nov2002
Jun-Aug2003
Mar-May2004
Dec-Feb2005
Sep-Nov2005
Jun-Aug2006
Mar-May2007
Dec-Feb2008
Sep-Nov2008
Jun-Aug2009
Mar-May2010
Dec-Feb2011
Sep-Nov2011
Jun-Aug2012
Mar-May2013
Dec-Feb2014
Thousands
Source: Labour Force Survey, ONS.
Could not find
full-time job
Did not want full-
time job
Some other
reason
Job with contract
of training

6. Types of temporary work, 1997-2014
(UK, not seasonally adjusted)
0
400
800
1,200
1,600
2,000
Jan-Mar1997
Jan-Mar1998
Jan-Mar1999
Jan-Mar2000
Jan-Mar2001
Jan-Mar2002
Jan-Mar2003
Jan-Mar2004
Jan-Mar2005
Jan-Mar2006
Jan-Mar2007
Jan-Mar2008
Jan-Mar2009
Jan-Mar2010
Jan-Mar2011
Jan-Mar2012
Jan-Mar2013
Jan-Mar2014
Fixed period contract Agency temping
Casual work Seasonal work
Other
Men full-
time
29%
Men part-
time
17%
Women
full-time
22%
Women
part-time
32%
April-June 2014
Source: Labour Force Survey, ONS.

7. Temporary employees by
occupation, 2001-2014
(April-June, SOC2000, UK, not seasonally adjusted)
0
50000
100000
150000
200000
250000
300000
350000
Managers
and senior
officials
Professional Associate
professional
and
technical
Admin and
secretarial
Skilled
trades
Personal
services
Sales and
customer
services
Process,
plant and
machine
opertives
Elementary
occupations
2001 2014
Source: Labour Force Survey, ONS.

8. Employees by length of time
spent working at the workplace,
2011
(% of employees in workplaces with 5 or more employees)
11 10
25 25
28
36
22
23
12
7
42
18
21
10
9
Less than 1 year 1-2 years 2-5 years 5-10 years 10 years +
Permanent Temporary - no set end date Fixed period
Source: Workplace Employment Relations Study, survey of employees.

9. Employees by age group, 2011
(% of employees in workplaces with 5 or more employees)
4
16
22
27
23
8
26
19
17
12 12 13
9
25
28
18
13
5
16-21 22-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60+
Permanent Temporary - no set end date Fixed period
Source: Workplace Employment Relations Study, survey of employees.

10. International comparisons of
temporary employment, 2013
(% of dependent employment)
30%
27%
23%22%
21%
21%
17%17%16%
16%
14%14%14%13%13%13%13%
12%
11%
10%10%10% 9% 9% 8% 8%
7% 7% 6% 6%
4%
Source: OECD. Data for Australia and Japan are for 2012.

11. International comparisons of
temporary employment of young
people, 2013
(% of 15-24 year olds in dependent employment)
74%
69%
65%
61%
59%
56%
53%53%53%52%
46%
43%
41%
35%34%33%33%
31%30%29%27%27%27%
25%24%
21%21%20%
15%
12%
6%
Source: OECD. Data for Australia and Japan are for 2012.

12. Temporary employment and
employment protection
legislation, 2013
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
%temporaryemployment
Strength of legislation protecting individual dismissal for permanent contracts
Source: OECD. Data for Australia and Japan are for 2012.
UK

13. Employers’ use of temporary,
fixed term and agency workers,
2004-2011
(workplaces with 5+ employees)
22
5.2
10
25
6.7
12
% of workplaces with temporary or
fixed contract staff
fixed contract and temporary staff as
% of total employment
% of workplaces using agency
workers
2004 2011
Source: Workplace Employment Relations Study.

14. Employers’ use of fixed term,
temporary and agency workers
by industry, 2011
(% of workplaces with 5+ employees)
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
D: Manufacturing
E: Electricity, gas and water
F: Construction
G: Wholesale and retail
H: Hotels and restaurants
I: Transport and communication
K: Other business services
L: Public administration
M: Education
N: Health
O: Other community services
Total
Agency workers Fixed term/temporary staff
Source: Workplace Employment Relations Study.
(Too few observations for reliable data on the financial services industry).

15. Employers’ reasons for taking on
temporary workers, 2011
(% of workplaces with 5+ employees who employ fixed term/temporary staff or agency
workers)
3
6
10
11
11
14
19
26
27
Budget restrictions
Time-limited funding
Spur to improve
performance
Obtain specialist skills
Recruitment freeze on
permanent staff
Other reason
Trial for permanent jobs
Leave/maternity cover
Temporary increase in
demand
Fixed term/temporary staff
6
12
13
14
22
45
47
Other reason
Obtain specialist skills
Unable to fill vacancies
Freeze on permanent staff
numbers
Leave/maternity cover
Short term cover
Match staff to peaks in
demand
Agency workers
Source: Workplace Employment Relations Study.

16. Is a temporary job a ‘bad’ job?
0 20 40 60 80
Friendliness of colleagues
Training provided
Variety
Amount of work
Work itself
Fringe benefits
Hours worked
Ability and efficiency of…
Able to use initiative
Opportunity to use own abilities
Job security
Relationship with manager
Pay
Promotion prospects
% of employees ‘very satisfied’/’satisfied’ with:
Permanent employees Non-permanent employees
0 20 40 60 80 100
Sense of achievement from
work
Scope for using initiative
Influence over job
Training received
Opportunity to develop skills in
job
Pay
Job security
Work itself
% of employees in workplaces with 5+
employees ‘very satisfied’/’satisfied’ with:
Fixed period Temporary - no set end date Permanent
Sources: Left hand panel, Skills and Employment Survey, 2012; right hand panel, Workplace Employment
Relations Study survey of employees, 2011.

17. Is a temporary job a ‘bad job’?
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Individual
PRP
Group PRP Organisation
related PRP
Overtime
payments
Contributions
to pension
%ofemployeesreceiving
Less benefits?
Permanent Temporary - no set end date Fixed period
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
My job requires that I
work very hard
Never seem to have
enough time to get
work done
Often difficult to fulfil
non-work
commitments
because of time
spent on the job
%stronglyagree/agree
But less stress?
Permanent Temporary - no set end date Fixed period
Source: Workplace Employment Relations Study 2011, survey of employees in workplaces with 5+ employees.

18. Putting temporary work in
context
• Temporary employees stable at about 6% of employees
• Zero hours workers: may or may not be temporary employees, just
over 2% of employment (LFS), about 3% (CIPD surveys), up to 4-5
% (ONS business surveys) – appear to have been growing since
mid 2000s
• Freelance workers – about 2% of those in employment (2012 Skills
and Employment Survey – many may be multiple jobs holders
alongside employee jobs – indications are that proportions are
relatively stable

19. • Temporary employees are a stable (if relatively small) feature of the employment
landscape
• Only one means of flexibility (others include flexing hours or contracting work)
• Recession had relatively small impact on numbers – increases in some cases,
retrenchment in others
• Temporary workforce is relatively young and in less well paid roles (hourly pay
about half that of permanent workers)
• In some cases, used because of limits on permanent recruitment but primary
drivers are for cover and flexibility in matching supply and demand – cost-cutting
and/or desire to avoid legal obligations is not a significant factor
• This is in stark contrast to much of Europe where high levels of temporary
employment are associated with tougher controls on the employment and
dismissal of employees
• Is it time to stop thinking of temporary jobs as ‘second best’ or ‘bad’ jobs?
Conclusions

20. Thank you