Do Temporary-Help Jobs Improve Labor Market Outcomes for Low-Skilled Workers? Evidence from "Work First"
Temporary-help jobs offer rapid entry into paid employment, but they are typically brief and it is unknown whether they foster longer term employment. We utilize the unique structure of Detroit's welfare-to- work program to identify the effect of temporary-help jobs on labor market advancement....
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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American Economic Association
2011
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/61693 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6915-9381 |
| _version_ | 1826203143619215360 |
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| author | Autor, David H. Houseman, Susan N. |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics Autor, David H. Houseman, Susan N. |
| author_sort | Autor, David H. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Temporary-help jobs offer rapid entry into paid employment, but they are typically brief and it is unknown whether they foster longer term employment. We utilize the unique structure of Detroit's welfare-to- work program to identify the effect of temporary-help jobs on labor market advancement. Exploiting the rotational assignment of welfare clients to numerous nonprofit contractors with differing job placement rates, we find that temporary-help job placements do not improve and may diminish subsequent earnings and employment outcomes among participants. In contrast, job placements with direct-hire employers substantially raise earnings and employment over a seven quarter follow-up period. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:32:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/61693 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:32:19Z |
| publishDate | 2011 |
| publisher | American Economic Association |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/616932022-09-28T08:23:50Z Do Temporary-Help Jobs Improve Labor Market Outcomes for Low-Skilled Workers? Evidence from "Work First" Autor, David H. Houseman, Susan N. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics Autor, David H. Autor, David H. Temporary-help jobs offer rapid entry into paid employment, but they are typically brief and it is unknown whether they foster longer term employment. We utilize the unique structure of Detroit's welfare-to- work program to identify the effect of temporary-help jobs on labor market advancement. Exploiting the rotational assignment of welfare clients to numerous nonprofit contractors with differing job placement rates, we find that temporary-help job placements do not improve and may diminish subsequent earnings and employment outcomes among participants. In contrast, job placements with direct-hire employers substantially raise earnings and employment over a seven quarter follow-up period. Rockefeller Foundation Russell Sage Foundation 2011-03-14T19:35:34Z 2011-03-14T19:35:34Z 2010-07 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1945-7782 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/61693 Autor, David H., and Susan N. Houseman. 2010. "Do Temporary-Help Jobs Improve Labor Market Outcomes for Low-Skilled Workers? Evidence from "Work First"." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2(3): 96–128. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6915-9381 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/app.2.3.96 American Economic Journal: Applied Economics Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ application/pdf American Economic Association MIT web domain |
| spellingShingle | Autor, David H. Houseman, Susan N. Do Temporary-Help Jobs Improve Labor Market Outcomes for Low-Skilled Workers? Evidence from "Work First" |
| title | Do Temporary-Help Jobs Improve Labor Market Outcomes for Low-Skilled Workers? Evidence from "Work First" |
| title_full | Do Temporary-Help Jobs Improve Labor Market Outcomes for Low-Skilled Workers? Evidence from "Work First" |
| title_fullStr | Do Temporary-Help Jobs Improve Labor Market Outcomes for Low-Skilled Workers? Evidence from "Work First" |
| title_full_unstemmed | Do Temporary-Help Jobs Improve Labor Market Outcomes for Low-Skilled Workers? Evidence from "Work First" |
| title_short | Do Temporary-Help Jobs Improve Labor Market Outcomes for Low-Skilled Workers? Evidence from "Work First" |
| title_sort | do temporary help jobs improve labor market outcomes for low skilled workers evidence from work first |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/61693 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6915-9381 |
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