Doctoral Dissertation Research: Changing Urban Spatial Structure and the Growth of the Temporary Help Services Industry

博士论文研究：城市空间结构的变化与临时救助服务业的发展

• 批准号: 0117450
• 负责人: Susan Hanson
• 金额: $ 0.71万
• 依托单位: Clark University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2001
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2001-07-15 至 2003-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0117450&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Changing; Urban

Over the last few decades, the temporary help service industry (THSI) in the United States has grown significantly. Prevailing explanations for this growth focus on increases in demand for flexible labor to reduce costs to companies using temporary workers and changes in labor supply owing to workers' increasing preferences for flexible work schedules. Because forms of work other than temporary agencies can also fulfill these supply and demand requirements, however, neither explanation is sufficient to explain why the THSI has emerged. This doctoral dissertation research project hypothesizes that the growth of the THSI is in part a result of the increasing decentralization of companies to suburban areas. This relocation provides relatively little social access to low-wage workers, who continue to face few opportunities to move to suburban areas. The project explores whether firms use the labor services provided by the THSI to access and mobilize labor under conditions they would not otherwise be able to achieve. Empirical work conducted as part of this study is a multi-faceted exploration of low-wage clerical and light industrial temporary work in Worcester, Massachusetts. Data will be collected through in-depth interviews with 30 temporary agencies and 60 firms who use THSI services. In-depth interviews will allow a more complex explanation of the specific reasons that firms use temporary workers and will shed light on the process of matching and mobilizing labor that temporary agencies perform. The firms and agencies to be interviewed are chosen randomly from a geographically stratified sample that will allow an assessment of the relationship between a company's ease of access to low-wage labor and the firm's use of THSI workers. A mailed survey to 1800 companies will test the results of the trends observed in the interview phase. Analysis of the data collected from both the interviews and mail survey will focus on why and how firms use temporary agencies to substitute for their own recruiting efforts. This research will provide data on the likelihood, intensity, and variety of temporary worker use by firms with greater or lesser access to their desired labor pools. Analyses also will be made of the location, recruiting strategies, and labor services provided by temporary agencies.This project will provide new insights into the processes that have resulted in the rapid growth of THSI, and it will shed light on the potential for continued growth of the industry. The project's results also will enhance understandings of the conditions that underlie growth in the THSI, and it will provide practical information regarding access to employment information, which can improve the job opportunities of low-income workers. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.

在过去的几十年中，美国的临时帮助服务行业（THSI）已大大增长。 这项增长的主要解释集中在增加对灵活劳动力的需求增加，以降低使用临时工的成本，以及由于工人对灵活的工作时间表的偏好的增加而降低了劳动力供应的变化。 但是，由于临时机构以外的其他工作形式也可以满足这些供应和需求要求，因此，这两个解释都足以解释为什么THSI出现。 该博士学位论文研究项目假设THSI的增长部分是由于公司对郊区的分散率增加的结果。 这种搬迁提供了相对较少的社会访问权，即低薪工人，他们继续面对搬到郊区的机会。 该项目探讨了公司是否使用THSI提供的劳动服务在他们原本无法实现的条件下访问和动员劳动力。 作为这项研究的一部分进行的经验工作是对马萨诸塞州伍斯特的低薪文书和轻型工业临时工作的多方面探索。 数据将通过对30个临时机构和60家使用THSI服务的公司进行深入访谈来收集数据。 深入的访谈将允许对企业使用临时工的具体原因进行更复杂的解释，并阐明临时机构执行的匹配和动员劳动力的过程。 从地理分层的样本中随机选择了要采访的公司和机构，该样本将允许评估公司易于获得低薪劳动力与公司使用THSI工人之间的关系。 向1800家公司进行的邮寄调查将测试在面试阶段观察到的趋势的结果。 对访谈和邮件调查收集的数据的分析将侧重于公司为什么以及如何使用临时机构代替自己的招聘工作。 这项研究将提供有关公司使用或多或少访问所需劳动池的临时工人使用的可能性，强度和种类的数据。 还将对临时机构提供的位置，招聘策略和劳动服务的位置进行分析。该项目将对导致THSI迅速增长的过程提供新的见解，并阐明该行业持续增长的潜力。 该项目的结果还将增强对THSI增长构成状况的理解，并将提供有关访问就业信息的实用信息，这可以改善低收入工人的工作机会。 作为博士学位论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生能够建立强大的独立研究职业。