TEMPING IS BECOMING PERMANENT In the past couple of years the percentage of temporary workers in industrial countries has doubled. In the U.S., 98% of all companies use temp labor,with large companies hiring 15% of their work force on a temporary basis. But the important development is in the kind as well as the number of those temporary workers, and in the fact the fastest-growing segment of the industry is in skilled technical jobs. Computer and auto companies increased hiring of high-tech temps by 20% in 1997 and anticipated a similar increase in 1998. Sometimes the hiring of temporary workers demoralizes permanent ones, if they make the inference that their own jobs are tenuous; however, they're less demoralized than they'd be if permanent workers were laid off. The successful companies seem to be those that use temps not to save money but to make a strategic response to particular needs, such as a special work demand or a special product cycle. (Edward Prewitt, "Tap Into The Temp Revolution," Harvard Management Update Mar 99)
