Temporary Work Agencies and Unemployment in Poland

During the last several years most European countries have noted a rapid increase in the share of temporary employment in the total number of employees. Among the forms of temporary employment have dominated: fixed-term employment contracts and temporary work agencies employment. [OECD]. Poland was located among the top of the countries with rapidly growing temporary employment and high unemployment. In 2003, Poland introduced regulations regarding the employment of temporary workers. There was a sharp increase in demand for the services of temporary work agencies. The number of temporary workers rose from 0.23% of total employment in 2003 to 3.27% in 2012. Using empirical data, the author analyses the impact of temporary work agencies on the number of the unemployed. The results show that with the increase in the number of temporary work agencies, the number of the unemployed fell. Each agency employed an average of 795 unemployed. The largest group of temporary workers were those unemployed for 6 to 24 months.