Temporary Becomes Permanent in the Workplace

Link to December 20 New York Times article, "Weighing Costs, Companies Favor Temporary Help".

Excerpt: Temporary workers are starting to look, well, not so temporary.

Despite a surge this year in short-term hiring, many American businesses are still skittish about making those jobs permanent, raising concerns among workers and some labor experts that temporary employees will become a larger, more entrenched part of the work force.

This is bad news for the nation’s workers, who are already facing one of the bleakest labor markets in recent history. Temporary employees generally receive fewer benefits or none at all, and have virtually no job security. It is harder for them to save. And it is much more difficult for them to develop a career arc while hopping from boss to boss.

Some of the numbers:
November 2010.  50,000 private-sector jobs added; 80% temporary.
2010 to date.  1,170,000 private-sector jobs added; 307,000 temporary.
15,000,000 people out of work.

Lots more here:

and here.