Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Transitions from Temporary to Permanent Work in Canada: Who Makes the Transition and Why?

  • Published:
Social Indicators Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The focus of this paper is on a microeconomic analysis of the annual transition rate from temporary to permanent work of individual workers in Canada for the period 1999–2004. Given that a large proportion of temporary employment is involuntary, an understanding of the factors associated with the transition to permanent work may inform public policy. Factors associated with the transition, namely, human capital, household structures and labour market segmentation are analyzed using data from the Statistics Canada’s Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) for the period 1999–2004, limited to paid workers aged 20–64 years, excluding students. Among the key factors associated with the transitions are younger age and low unemployment rates. The analysis adds to the Canadian and international literature on transitions from temporary to permanent work.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Estimates for the UK and Spain are from Booth et al. (2002a) and the estimate for the US is from Polikva (1996).

  2. Temporary work may be chosen because it offers an opportunity to better balance work and family responsibilities (for a given set of care options and constraints), and in a limited set of circumstances, temporary work may be both high paying and personally rewarding. For the majority of temporary workers, however, this type of work is undertaken involuntarily.

  3. It is not possible to estimate the percentage of involuntary temporary workers in Canada because such a question as used in other countries about why workers accept the temporary work is not included the Canadian nationally representative data sets.

  4. Note that Australians use the dichotomy of casual and permanent, where casual refers to jobs not covered by standard employment benefits, such as paid sick and holiday leave’. Campbell and Burgess (2001, p. 180) also argue that Australian Bureau of Statistics “data on casual employees underestimate the number and proportion of temporary employees in Australia”.). The term “casual” used in this paper and in other papers using European Labour Force Surveys, refers to a sub-category of the temporary category.

  5. This paper complements research at the aggregate level on the relationship between temporary work, unemployment, and employment protection (see, for example, Baker et al. 2004).

  6. See also Booth et al. (2002b) for Britain; Blanchard and Landier (2001) for France; Holmlund and Storrie (2002) for Sweden.

  7. See Bentolila and Dolado (1994) on the existence of a dual labour market in Spain with permanent workers as insiders and temporary workers as outsiders.

  8. The Master File of SLID contains the individual’s employment insurance (EI) region. Information on the annual unemployment rate between 2000 and 2004 for each EI region was provided by HRSDC.

  9. The result that older workers are less likely to make the transition to permanent worker than younger workers appears to run counter to a human capital hypothesis that older workers, given their greater labour market experience, should have higher rates of transition to permanent work. On the other hand, employers may be more reluctant to make investment in older workers in temporary work arrangement and offer them permanent positions due to their shorter career horizon for employers to recoup the costs of hiring and training (Hutchens 1986).

References

  • Amuedo-Dolantes, C. (2000). Work transitions into and out of involuntary temporary employment in a segmented market: Evidence from Spain. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 55(2), 309–325.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baker, D., Glyn, A., Howell, D., & Schmitt, J. (2004). Unemployment and labor market institutions: The failure of the empirical case for deregulation. Report to the International Labour Organization and available at http://www.newschool.edu/cepa/.

  • Bentolila, S., & Dolado, J. J. (1994). Labour flexibility and wages: Lessons from Spain. Economic Policy, 18, 54–99.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blanchard, O., & Landier, A. (2001). The perverse effects of partial labour market reform: Fixed term contracts in France. Economic Journal, 112, 829–853.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blank, R. (1994). The dynamics of part-time work. NBER, Working Paper No. 4911.

  • Booth, A. L., Dolado, J. J., & Frank, J. (2002a). Symposium on temporary work: Introduction. Economic Journal, 112, F181–F188.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Booth, A. L., Francesconi, M., & Frank, J. (2002b). Temporary jobs: Stepping stones or dead ends?. Economic Journal, 112, F189–F213.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, I., & Burgess, J. (2001). Casual employment in Australia and temporary employment in Europe: Developing a cross-national comparison. Work, Employment & Society, 15(1), 171–184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chalmers, J., & Kalb, G. (2001). Moving from unemployment to permanent employment: Could a casual job accelerate the transition? Australian Economic Review, 34(4), 415–436.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doeringer, P. B., & Piore, M. J. (1971). Internal labor markets and manpower analysis. Lexington: D.C. Heath.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fuller, S., & Vosko, L. (2008). Temporary employment and social inequality in Canada: Exploring intersections of gender, race, and immigration status.

  • Galarneau, D. (2005). Earnings of temporary versus permanent employees. Perspectives on Labour and Income, 17(1), 40–53.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaston, N., & Timcke, D. (1999). Do casual workers find permanent full-time employment? Evidence from the Australian Youth Survey. The Economic Record, 75(231), 333–347.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holmlund, B., & Storrie, D. (2002). Temporary work in turbulent times: The Swedish experience. Economic Journal, 112(480), F245–F269.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hutchens, R. (1986). Delayed payment contracts and firm’s propensity to hire older workers. Journal of Labor Economics, 4(4), 439–457.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Janz, T. (2004). Low-paid employment and ‘moving up’. Income Statistics Division, Income research paper series, Statistics Canada.

  • Kapsalis, C., & Tourigny, P. (2005). Duration of non-standard employment. Perspectives on Labour and Income, 17(1), 31–39.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacPhail, F., & Bowles, P. (2008). Temporary work and neoliberal government policy: Evidence from British Columbia, Canada. International Review of Applied Economics.

  • Morissette, R., & Johnson, A. (2005). Are good jobs disappearing in Canada? Analytical Studies Research Paper Series, No. 239. Statistics Canada.

  • Noreau, N. (2000). Longitudinal aspect of involuntary part-time employment. Income Statistics Division, Statistics Canada.

  • O’Reilly, J., & Bothfeld, S. (2002). What happens after working part time? Integration, maintenance or exclusionary transitions in Britain and western Germany. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 26, 409–439.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Polivka, A. E. (1996). Into contingent and alternative employment: by choice? Monthly Labor Review, 119(10), 55–74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Segal, L. M., & Sullivan, D. G. (1997). The growth of temporary services work. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 11(2), 117–136.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vosko, L., Zukewich, N., & Cranford, C. (2003). Precarious jobs: A new typology of employment. Perspectives on Labour and Income, 15(5), 39–49.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiens-Tuers, B. A. (2001). Employee attachment and temporary workers. Journal of Economic Issues, 35(1), 45–48.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Workshop participants for helpful comments, especially David Green.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Administrative Studies, Atkinson Faculty of Liberal and Professional Studies, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, ON, Canada, M3J 1P3

    Tony Fang

  2. Economics Program, University of Northern British Columbia, 3333 University Way, Prince George, BC, Canada, V2N 4Z9

    Fiona MacPhail

Authors
  1. Tony Fang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Fiona MacPhail
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tony Fang.

Appendix A

Appendix A

Means for main variables of interest for the whole sample and for sub-samples by gender

Variable

Whole sample

Male sample

Female sample

Female

0.479

  

Non-disabled

   

Disabled

0.143

0.137

0.150

Not aboriginal

   

Aboriginal

0.031

0.029

0.032

Not visible minority

   

Visible minority

0.098

0.096

0.100

Age 20–24

0.054

0.056

0.051

Age 25–29

0.107

0.107

0.107

Age 30–39

0.296

0.300

0.293

Age 40–49

0.329

0.324

0.334

Age 50–59

0.189

0.185

0.192

Age 60–64

0.026

0.028

0.023

Single, never married

   

Married, common law

0.712

0.721

0.702

Separated

0.037

0.031

0.044

Divorced

0.055

0.040

0.070

Widowed

0.009

0.003

0.015

Number of children

1.553

1.508

1.602

Less than high school grad.

   

High school graduate

0.298

0.295

0.301

Non-U. postsecondary certif.

0.348

0.337

0.360

University degree or certificate

0.214

0.208

0.220

Work experience (years)

16.76

0.008

14.720

Ontario

   

Newfoundland/Labrador

0.018

0.018

0.018

Prince Edward Island

0.005

0.005

0.005

Nova Scotia

0.033

0.033

0.034

New Brunswick

0.028

0.027

0.030

Quebec

0.252

0.254

0.250

Manitoba

0.037

0.036

0.039

Saskatchewan

0.029

0.028

0.031

Alberta

0.103

0.101

0.104

British Columbia

0.117

0.119

0.115

Rural

   

Urban 0–99,999

0.242

0.245

0.239

Urban 100,000–499,999

0.128

0.125

0.131

Urban 500,000 and higher

0.446

0.444

0.448

Management occupation

   

Business, finance, admin.

0.201

0.101

0.309

Natural and applied science

0.074

0.114

0.030

Health

0.058

0.016

0.104

Social science

0.076

0.048

0.106

Art, culture, recreation, sports

0.021

0.018

0.024

Sales and service

0.223

0.177

0.274

Trades, transport and equip. op.

0.147

0.263

0.020

Primary occupations

0.022

0.035

0.008

Processing, mfg., utilities

0.092

0.123

0.058

Manufacturing industry

   

Agriculture

0.010

0.011

0.008

Forest, fish, mining, oil and gas

0.022

0.035

0.007

Utilities

0.011

0.016

0.005

Construction

0.053

0.091

0.012

Trade

0.142

0.136

0.148

Transportation, warehousing

0.049

0.069

0.027

Finance, insurance, real estate

0.058

0.041

0.077

Prof., scientific, tech. service

0.053

0.054

0.052

Management, admin. support

0.032

0.030

0.034

Educational services

0.079

0.047

0.113

Health and social services

0.112

0.037

0.195

Information, culture, recreation

0.043

0.045

0.041

Accom., food and other services

0.087

0.069

0.107

Public administration

0.072

0.082

0.061

Not multiple job holder

   

Multiple job holder

0.085

0.075

0.096

Not covered by agreement

   

Covered collective agreement

0.354

0.367

0.340

Earnings from job ($000/year)

34.118

41.000

26.624

Unemployment rate (%)

7.990

8.011

7.967

Family income ($000/year)

61.903

62.994

60.715

Major income earner

   

Spouse or common-law partner

0.304

0.122

0.503

Parent of major income earner

0.008

0.005

0.011

Child of major income earner

0.046

0.054

0.038

Other

0.015

0.017

0.014

Firm size 1–19

   

Firm size 20–99

0.169

0.174

0.164

Firm size 100–499

0.144

0.150

0.138

Firm size 500–999

0.075

0.074

0.076

Firm size over 1000

0.348

0.355

0.339

Number of observations

62,000

31,215

30,785

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Fang, T., MacPhail, F. Transitions from Temporary to Permanent Work in Canada: Who Makes the Transition and Why?. Soc Indic Res 88, 51–74 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-007-9210-7

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-007-9210-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation