Temporary Agency Work and the Great Recession

We investigate with German data how the use of temporary agency
work has helped establishments to manage the economic and financial
crisis in 2008/09. We examine the (regular) workforce development,
use of short-time work, and business performance of establishments
that made differential use of temporary agency work prior to the
crisis. Overall, our results suggest that establishments with a
greater use of temporary agency work coped better with the sharp
decline in demand and made less frequent use of
government-sponsored short-time work schemes.