Fewer and shorter contracts for agency workers

Giaccone, Mario

Overview

Article

Fewer and shorter contracts for agency workers

Published: 9 January 2011

Mario Giaccone

Employment status

A report (in Italian, 3.73Mb PDF) [1] on the activities of Forma.Temp [2] (the bipartite training fund for the temporary agency sector, IT0807019Q [3]) in 2009 was published jointly by Forma.Temp and Ebitemp [4] (the bipartite body for temporary work) in July 2010. The report summarises trends in the employment of temporary agency workers (TAWs) and the provision of training for TAWs in Italy.[1] http://www.formatemp.it/AR/doc/FormaRapp09.pdf[2] http://www.formatemp.it/default.aspx[3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/erm/comparative-information/national-contributions/italy/italy-temporary-agency-work-and-collective-bargaining-in-the-eu[4] http://ebitemp.it/

The 2009 annual report of the bipartite training fund, Forma.Temp, reveals a major reduction of temporary agency workers (TAWs) in Italy compared with 2008 and earlier in the decade with fewer and shorter contracts. A strong decline in the provision of contracts for TAWs for younger workers and in training provision for TAWs (particularly basic and on-the-job training) suggests that new entrants to the labour market have been the most affected by the current recession.

A report (in Italian, 3.73Mb PDF) on the activities of Forma.Temp (the bipartite training fund for the temporary agency sector, IT0807019Q) in 2009 was published jointly by Forma.Temp and Ebitemp (the bipartite body for temporary work) in July 2010. The report summarises trends in the employment of temporary agency workers (TAWs) and the provision of training for TAWs in Italy.

Key trends

Numbers of temporary agency workers

The average number of TAWs increased in terms of the number of employees registered at the Italian National Institute of Insurance against Accidents at Work (INAIL) and in terms of full-time equivalents (FTEs) by over five and seven times respectively between 2000 to 2008 (Table 1) as part of the general increase of non-permanent employment in Italy (from 6.6% in 2000 to 13.8% in 2008). However, their numbers fell by -29.5% in 2009 (equivalent to a -36.4% drop in FTEs), confirming that non-permanent workers are the first to shoulder the burden of employment contraction. The strongest increase was reported for 2003 following the introduction of legislation which reduced constraints on TAWs and the activities of agencies.

**Table 1: Temporary agency workers and contracts, 2000–2009**
Year	TAWs*		Contracts		FTEs		Average months worked	Average length of contracts
Year	Average	% variation	Average	% variation	Average	% variation	Average months worked	Average length of contracts
2000	112,532		154,026		34,371		3.67	2.68
2001	143,249	27.3	205,798	32.3	43,924	27.8	3.68	2.56
2002	214,054	49.4	334,643	64.2	67,554	53.8	3.79	2.42
2003	362,144	69.2	701,378	109.6	114,386	69.3	3.79	1.96
2004	400,410	10.6	865,045	23.3	138,014	20.7	4.14	1.91
2005	442,143	10.4	945,386	9.3	156,015	13.0	4.23	1.98
2006	515,973	16.7	1,096,669	16.0	186,676	19.7	4.34	2.04
2007	582,177	12.8	1,212,465	10.6	232,648	24.6	4.80	2.30
2008	582,493	0.1	1,195,354	-1.4	247,061	6.2	5.09	2.48
2009	410,694	-29.5	860,974	-28.0	157,100	-36.4	4.59	2.19

Notes: * From INAIL files.

Source: Ebitemp–Forma.Temp, 2010

Time worked and length of contract

The average number of months worked by TAWs increased from less than four months in 2000–2003 to over five months in 2008, declining to just above 4.5 months in 2009 (Table 1).

The average duration of contracts fluctuated during the 2000s. It declined from over 2.5 months in 2000 to less than two months in 2004–2005 before increasing to almost 2.5 months in 2008, only to fall back to 2.2 months in 2009 (Table 1).

Such divergences suggest that, while the pool of TAWs and their working opportunities increased at the expense of permanent contracts, the duration of their contracts fluctuated in line with the business cycle.

Age

In 2009, the reduction in the number of TAWs was particularly strong for younger workers (-36.8% for the 18–24 age group) (Table 2). The employment of those aged 65 and above even increased slightly, although their numbers are very small. Such differences are particularly striking as temporary agency work is seen as an important means of entry into the labour market; those aged below 30 accounted for 48% of all TAWs in 2008 (46% in 2009).

**Table 2: Trends for temporary agency workers by age, 2008–2009**
Age	Average number		% variation
Age	2008	2009	% variation
Less than 18	628	240	-61.8
18–24	154,562	97,719	-36.8
25–29	126,266	89,863	-28.8
30–34	106,100	74,477	-29.8
35–39	77,360	56,827	-26.5
40–49	90,129	68,521	-24.0
50–64	26,968	22,554	-16.4
65 and over	481	492	2.3
Total	582,494	410,693	-29.5

Source: Ebitemp–Forma.Temp, 2010

Participation and length of training

A 1997 law requires temporary work agencies to devote 4% of their wage bill to training activities, which are managed by Forma.Temp. Monitoring of training provisions by Forma.Temp offers further insights into the situation of TAWs in Italy.

The decrease between 2008 and 2009 in both the average number of participants in training courses (-38.7%) and average hours of training (-38.1%) (Table 3) is higher than the decline between 2008 and 2009 in both the average number of TAWs and the average number of FTEs (Table 1).

The decline is most remarkable for so-called ‘basic training’ (-49.4% in terms of average number of participants, -44.7% in terms of average hours of training), that is, those training courses that aim to develop general skills and are usually offered to new entrants in the TAW pool. Almost equally striking is the decline in on-the-job training (-45% in terms of average number of participants, -46.7% in terms of average hours of training).

**Table 3: TAWs participating in training by type of training, 2008–2009**
Type of training	2008		2009		% variation
Type of training	Average number of participants	Average length (hours)	Average number of participants	Average length (hours)	Average number of participants	Average length (hours)
Basic	50,226	116,123	25,434	64,243	-49.4	-44.7
Professional	109,370	709,548	66,722	448,621	-39.0	-36.8
Continuing vocational training (CVT)	7,866	104,580	1,659	113,170	-78.9	8.2
On-the-job	23,182	601,398	12,758	320,612	-45.0	-46.7
Orientation	41,833	5,508	35,973	5,483	-14.0	-0.5
Total	232,477	1,537,157	142,546	952,129	-38.7	-38.1

Source: Ebitemp–Forma.Temp, 2010

Commentary

The 2009 annual report by Forma.Temp provides some interesting insights into how the economic crisis has hit temporary agency workers, who had been the fastest growing category of employees with non-permanent contracts in Italy in the 2000s. Employment cuts were severe both in terms of the numbers of employees and the duration of their contracts.

Such trends are confirmed by the 2010 labour market annual report of the Regional Agency of Work for the autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia in northeast Italy. While in general non-permanent contracts have declined in the region by 12.7% since 2007, apprentices and TAWs experienced the strongest reduction (-44.7% and -38.1%, respectively). However, other types of atypical contracts grew because of their lower costs: traineeships ( 81.1%), ‘bogus’ self-employed ( 24.4%) and on-call jobs ( 164.2%).

References

Ebitemp and FormaTemp, Rapporto di Attivà Forma.Temp 2009 (3.73Mb PDF), Rome, Forma.Temp, 2010.

Regione Autonoma Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Agenzia Regionale del Lavoro, Il mercato del lavoro in Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Rapporto 2010 [Labour market in Friuli-Venezia Giulia. 2010 report], Milan, Agenzia Regionale del Lavoro, 2010.

Mario Giaccone, Ires

Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.

Eurofound (2011), Fewer and shorter contracts for agency workers, article.