The proportion of
hired labour from Job Agencies
has doubled in only a few years
Helsinki (06.06.2005/edited 01.12.2005 - Juhani Artto) The
proportion of hired labour recruited through Job Agencies has increased dramatically in
the last few years. According to the latest estimates about 1.2 per cent of the labour in
private companies falls into the Job Agency employment category. Just a few years ago it
was only half that amount. Now the Finnish situation is close to the average level for
other Western European countries.
Varamiespalvelu, "staffing agency" as it calls itself, published in late May a
survey on the experiences of hired labour through agencies. Varamiespalvelu is the largest
privately run recruitment firm operating in Finland. It employs around 3,000 on a daily
basis and 13,500 men and women annually.
For those looking for short-time employment, such as students, signing up with a Job
Agency seems to be an effective means of getting a job. According to the survey almost
half of the respondents were employed within a week and four fifths within a month of
submitting an application.
This route to employment may also be working for those seeking part-time work on a
permanent basis (atypical). However, when it comes to those seeking full-time permanent
employment (typical) the prospects don’t look so promising…less than a quarter
of Varamiespalvelu's clients have employed one or more of the job agency’s hired
employees, on a permanent basis. And this is extremely noteworthy when we consider that
nearly two thirds of the respondents had sought a permanent work relation.
Production work accounts for most agency- hired labour. According to the survey half of
the jobs were in production. Another third were found to be working in services and a
fifth in warehousing.
The bulk of Varamiespalvelu's employees are young. Almost half of the respondents are
below 25 years of age.
Trade unions are familiar to Varamiespalvelu's employees. Half of the respondents
are union members and two thirds of the respondents characterise union membership as
important or fairly important.
The trade unions, for their part, are very critical of the way employers use agency hired
labour. According to the metalworkers' union president Erkki Vuorenmaa many enterprises
that started out using agency- hired labour to level out temporary peaks have gone on to
‘regularise’ this practice i.e. hiring people as they need them without any
offer of job security. In effect, this has become a way of bypassing the
”inconveniences” companies face when dismissing their employees.
Ann Selin, the head of the consolidated service union (PAM), is keen to point out that
agency hired labour does not enjoy the same level of social security as permanent
employees. They may loose their sick leave pay and maternity leave. In addition they might
have problems in getting overtime pay. And last but not least, job security is extremely
precarious for agency- hired labour.
One indicator of the relatively weak position of agency -hired labour is the above average rate of accidents. The special risks associated with agency-hired labour had not merited study up until recently.
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