Temping

[James Devine]

Doug quotes the BLS: >"A total of 3.6 million workers were displaced
between January 1995 and December 1997 from jobs they had held for at least
3 years, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor
reported today.  The number of displaced workers declined from 4.2 million
in the previous survey that covered the period from January 1993 to
December 1995.  Both surveys covered periods of strong employment growth
and falling unemployment."<

On the other hand, earlier studies of displacement indicated that 45 to
54-year-old men's job tenure fell 31 percent, from 15.3 to 10.5 years
between January 1983 and February 1996. (See
http://stats.bls.gov/news.release.tenure.t01.html.)  The fact that I'm in
this demographic category is of course relevant. But it indicates that a
group of workers who used to be characterized by "primary labor market"
conditions are losing it. 

In addition, comparing two recessions, a study by the Council of Economic
Advisors aimed pretty explicitly at debunking the phenomenon of
"downsizing" concluded in 1996 that "Displacement rates for older and more
educated workers, who had largely been unaccustomed to facing such risk,
rose between 1981-2 and 1991-2" despite the relative mildness of the latter
recession compared to the former. See
http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/EOP/CEA/html/labor.html.

Jim Devine jdevine at popmail.lmu.edu &
http://clawww.lmu.edu/Departments/ECON/jdevine.html