Wolter H. J. Hassink, Utrecht University - Gender and job search in the Dutch market of temporary agency work

Title: Gender and job search in the Dutch market of temporary agency work

Abstract: We examine the role of commercial temp work agencies - or staffing firms- in job matching of women and men in the Dutch labour market. Our research question is whether there is any indication that the process of search and recruitment by temp work agencies reduces the spatial mismatch. More specifically, what happens to the hourly wage and the commuting distance if the temp agency is involved on the process of job matching? As a comparison group for the temporary staffing workers, we use temporary workers on so-called "payrolling jobs." Both groups are employed by the temporary work agency, however the process of search and recruitment is different, since there is no involvement of the temp agency in the process of recruitment for the payrolling jobs. We empirically analyse job matching of temporary workers by using information on Dutch job placements by the temp work agency Randstad Holding. We use information of about 317 thousand temp workers over the period 2013 - 2017. The estimates indicate there is a female commute gap and a female wage gap for both groups of workers. Importantly, the female commute gap is about 4 kilometres (10 percent) smaller for staffing workers, whose search is directed by the temp agency, compared with temp payrolling workers. Moreover, the gender pay gap is 3 percent and equal for all groups of workers. Overall, job search by a temp work agency mitigates the gender differential in commuting distance, whereas the gender wage differential does not seem to depend on the type of job search and is relatively small.

Presenter: Wolter H. J. Hassink, Utrecht University

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