TY  - JOUR
AU  - Heinrich, Carolyn J
AU  - Mueser, Peter R
AU  - Troske, Kenneth R
TI  - The Role of Temporary Help Employment in Low-wage Worker Advancement 
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 13520
PY  - 2007
Y2  - October 2007
DO  - 10.3386/w13520
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13520
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13520.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Carolyn J. Heinrich
LaFollette School of Public Affairs
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Madison, WI
E-Mail: cheinrich@lafollette.wisc.edu

Peter Mueser
Department of Economics
University of Missouri-Columbia
Columbia, MO
E-Mail: mueserp@missouri.edu

Kenneth Troske
Department of Economics
University of Kentucky
Lexington, KY
Tel: (859) 257-1282
E-Mail: ktroske@uky.edu
M1  - published as Carolyn J. Heinrich, Peter R. Mueser, Kenneth R. Troske. "The Role of Temporary Help Employment in Low-Wage Worker Advancement," in David H. Autor, editor, "Studies of Labor Market Intermediation " University of Chicago Press (2009)

M3  - presented at "Labor Market Intermediation Conf.", May 17-18, 2007
AB  - We examine the effects of temporary help service employment on later earnings and employment for individuals participating in three federal programs providing supportive services to those facing employment difficulties.  The programs include Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, whose participants are seriously disadvantaged; a job training program with a highly heterogeneous population of participants; and employment exchange services, whose participants consist of Unemployment Insurance claimants and individuals seeking assistant in obtaining employment.  We undertake our analyses for two periods: the late 1990s, a time of very strong economic growth, and shortly after 2000, a time of relative stagnation.  Our results suggest that temporary help service firms may facilitate quicker access to jobs for those seeking employment assistance and impart substantial benefits as transitional employment, especially for individuals whose alternatives are severely limited.  Those who do not move out of temporary help jobs, however, face substantially poorer prospects, and we observe that nonwhites are more likely than whites to remain in THS positions in the two years following program participation. Our results are robust to program and time period.
ER  -