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The Temp Economy: From Kelly Girls to Permatemps in Postwar America
Everyone knows that work in America is not what it used to be. Layoffs, outsourcing, contingent work, disappearing career ladders—these are the new workplace realities for an increasing number of people. But why? In The Temp Economy, Erin Hatton takes one of the best-known icons of the new economy—the temp industry—and finds that it is more than just a symbol of this degradation of work. The temp industry itself played an active role in this decline—and not just for temps. Industry leaders started by inventing the "Kelly Girl," exploiting 1950s gender stereotypes to justify low wages, minimal benefits, and chronic job insecurity. But they did not stop with Kelly Girls. From selling human"business machines" in the 1970s to "permatemps" in the 1990s, the temp industry relentlessly portrayed workers as profit-busting liabilities that hurt companies' bottom lines even in boom times. These campaigns not only legitimized the widespread use of temps, they also laid the cultural groundwork for a new corporate ethos of ruthless cost cutting and mass layoffs.
Succinct, highly readable, and drawn from a vast historical record of industry documents, The Temp Economy is a one-stop resource for anyone interested in the temp industry or the degradation of work in postwar America.
Succinct, highly readable, and drawn from a vast historical record of industry documents, The Temp Economy is a one-stop resource for anyone interested in the temp industry or the degradation of work in postwar America.
232 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 7, 2011
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143 people want to read
About the author
Erin Hatton
7 books3 followersErin Hatton is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University at Buffalo.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 26, 2011
Whatever you do, I implore you, do not read this book in the waiting area of an actual temp agency! I’ve already made that mistake for you and I still have the headache to prove it.
Here’s what happened: I was reading this brilliantness wherever, and whenever, I could (on the bus, at the mall, at the bus stop waiting for the bus to take me to said mall) and I, unfortunately, found myself still reading this brilliantness in the waiting area of a temp agency (after reading it on the train that took me to said temp agency).
I thought it would be funny to do so.
I wondered if anyone would notice and also find it funny.
But it was not, and nobody did, and then I was face-to-face with an 85-question “Personal Attitude Survey” that assessed, among other things, the likelihood that I would plough through mountains of cocaine or randomly assault coworkers on any of my (potential) temp assignments. And this all before coffee and without breakfast (which I could not afford at the time). The PAS, coupled with the brilliantness of Erin Hatton’s The Temp Economy, made me fill in oval after evil oval in such a way to indicate that, not only would I do as many drugs as humanly possible before assaulting anyone and everyone around me, but that I would do all of the above while conscientiously completing all of my assigned tasks, on time or earlier, at whatever assignment that they might throw my way, post-PAS.
Which is to say, I read The Temp Economy like a manifesto rather than the eloquent social history of temporary work, from the 1940s to the present day, that it actually is. The call to arms arrives early, like an obedient contingent employee, in the preface: “The degradation of work in the last decades of the twentieth century is well-traveled territory. The temp industry’s role in that story, however, is not.”
And then, on page two: “[T]his book argues that the temp industry had been much more than just a symbol of the degradation of work. It has been an active player in the drama.” And then Professor Hatton breaks it down, with Naomi-Klein clarity, by connecting all of the dots that have collectively delivered us to the mess that we’re currently in, work-wise, in North America and beyond.
The role of gender in all of this is both fascinating and terrifying as evidenced by the quote that introduces the first chapter, “The Making of The Kelly Girl,” by John Brandt, The Executive Vice President of Kelly Girl Service in 1958:
“I rent women.”(p. 19)
But wait, it gets worse.
In Chapter 2, “The Invention of The Semi-Permanent Employee”: “Temp executives urged businesses to think of permanent employees as office equipment […] “Would you order twenty staplers every month, regardless of whether they were needed?” temp leaders rhetorically asked businesses. Why, then, should anyone keep twenty employees on staff when business is slow?”(p. 59)
I could go on for days and, essentially, quote the entire book, but I don’t want to give too much away as The Temp Economy is such a fascinating read. Also fascinating (and enraging) are some of the temp agency ads from the sixties and seventies that pepper the book. One for Manpower, Inc. shows a woman in an oversized wooden crate seated at an enormous typewriter above the punchy caption: “The Last Word in 1970 Office Equipment!”(p. 60)
Needless to say, my Personal Attitude Assessment returned the following result: “Shitty,” and I wasn’t extended an offer of employment by the agency that administered this particularly egregious diagnostic. I thoroughly blame Professor Hatton for this outcome and would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank her for providing the inspiration for failing that particular exam.
Here’s what happened: I was reading this brilliantness wherever, and whenever, I could (on the bus, at the mall, at the bus stop waiting for the bus to take me to said mall) and I, unfortunately, found myself still reading this brilliantness in the waiting area of a temp agency (after reading it on the train that took me to said temp agency).
I thought it would be funny to do so.
I wondered if anyone would notice and also find it funny.
But it was not, and nobody did, and then I was face-to-face with an 85-question “Personal Attitude Survey” that assessed, among other things, the likelihood that I would plough through mountains of cocaine or randomly assault coworkers on any of my (potential) temp assignments. And this all before coffee and without breakfast (which I could not afford at the time). The PAS, coupled with the brilliantness of Erin Hatton’s The Temp Economy, made me fill in oval after evil oval in such a way to indicate that, not only would I do as many drugs as humanly possible before assaulting anyone and everyone around me, but that I would do all of the above while conscientiously completing all of my assigned tasks, on time or earlier, at whatever assignment that they might throw my way, post-PAS.
Which is to say, I read The Temp Economy like a manifesto rather than the eloquent social history of temporary work, from the 1940s to the present day, that it actually is. The call to arms arrives early, like an obedient contingent employee, in the preface: “The degradation of work in the last decades of the twentieth century is well-traveled territory. The temp industry’s role in that story, however, is not.”
And then, on page two: “[T]his book argues that the temp industry had been much more than just a symbol of the degradation of work. It has been an active player in the drama.” And then Professor Hatton breaks it down, with Naomi-Klein clarity, by connecting all of the dots that have collectively delivered us to the mess that we’re currently in, work-wise, in North America and beyond.
The role of gender in all of this is both fascinating and terrifying as evidenced by the quote that introduces the first chapter, “The Making of The Kelly Girl,” by John Brandt, The Executive Vice President of Kelly Girl Service in 1958:
“I rent women.”(p. 19)
But wait, it gets worse.
In Chapter 2, “The Invention of The Semi-Permanent Employee”: “Temp executives urged businesses to think of permanent employees as office equipment […] “Would you order twenty staplers every month, regardless of whether they were needed?” temp leaders rhetorically asked businesses. Why, then, should anyone keep twenty employees on staff when business is slow?”(p. 59)
I could go on for days and, essentially, quote the entire book, but I don’t want to give too much away as The Temp Economy is such a fascinating read. Also fascinating (and enraging) are some of the temp agency ads from the sixties and seventies that pepper the book. One for Manpower, Inc. shows a woman in an oversized wooden crate seated at an enormous typewriter above the punchy caption: “The Last Word in 1970 Office Equipment!”(p. 60)
Needless to say, my Personal Attitude Assessment returned the following result: “Shitty,” and I wasn’t extended an offer of employment by the agency that administered this particularly egregious diagnostic. I thoroughly blame Professor Hatton for this outcome and would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank her for providing the inspiration for failing that particular exam.
July 4, 2013
21. The Temp Economy, by Erin Hatton. This was an interesting read, and gives a lot of food for thought. In this book, the author outlines the history of Temp agencies, from their days as advertising themselves as a place for middle-class housewives to earn a little pocket money to the present day, when many large companies have a cadre of temporary employees hired through an outside agency for both general labor and specialists. Hatton outlines how she feels that temping agencies promoted the idea that full-time employees were not an asset, but a costly liability that suck the profits from the business. Personally, I had no idea how widespread temping was, and how many industries it affected. Still, I remain a bit skeptical over the entire premise that the dampening of wages is due in key part to the mechanization of temping agencies. I can agree the agencies had *a* role, but I would argue that the theories of "worker as asset" were never truly popular to begin with in this country. In the all-too-brief halcyon days of the unionized American worker (I'd say from post WWII to the early 70s), employers gave higher wages and benefits because they saw no other alternatives at that time, when workers were able to flex their muscles. (I'm speaking in general, of course. Even now, there are employers who believe in the "worker as asset model.") Temp agencies just preached a message that the majority of these firms wanted to hear in the first place and merely seized on the word, and the solutions, that temp agencies offered. Perhaps I'm too cynical, but I've read a bit about the tenements and poor labor conditions that existed throughout most of this nation's history. I think the stagnating wage has less to do with temp agencies and more to the nature of business in general. The goal of someone in business is to make money, and as much as he or she can. It can be made by providing a superior service, or a so-so but cheap service. Employees do cost money. Indeed, you look at the balance sheet of most businesses, employee wages and benefits swallow up about 60 percent of a company budget ( and that is conservative). Now, the question remains- does a business owner want innovation, loyalty and happiness from his or her employees? Does that business owner feel the only way to do that is by providing top dollar? If so, if that is what it takes to make money, then that dollar will be spent on the employees. But if the same results can be garnered through temps, or lesser trained workers, then guess what? For the most part, a business owner will take the actions required to best boost his or her bottom line. Temp agencies merely supplied the means to lower expenses. Is this right, morally? No. But business is not about morals. It's about making money. Period. You hope that business owners will act ethically because that not only benefits the worker but society. Unfortunately what is ethical and what is good business doesn't always coincide. But enough of my rambling. After the first chapter, which was a bit dry, this book does offer an interesting look at temping and how it has changed. The images of the ads used were especially interesting. Temp agencies went to great lengths to convince (affirm?) to business owners that employees were merely cogs, easily replaced. it's interesting the progression from temping agencies that advertised "The Girl With the White Gloves" 9yes, the temps in the 50s and 60s were all 'girls'- think on that for a moment), to sending temps into more and more jobs seen as "breadwinning" jobs and jobs held by men, and eventually by union workers. Their effect cannot be denied, and the advertising messages are diabolically ingenious. The solutions, as the author points out, won't be easy to accomplish. Some efforts have been made, but most - unionizing temp workers, setting limits as to whom can be called a temp worker, attempts at raising wages - have failed or, at best, had conditional success.
August 1, 2013
The standing-on-one foot version: How to influence public attitudes, and, consequently, the legal system to enable one to exploit workers with impunity. See April Helm's and FAXBoy's more thorough reviews for details.
February 1, 2014
Excellent book, very interesting historical data. Disappointed that the footnotes are not linked in the Kindle edition. Proactive conclusions section.
December 2, 2016
Insightful, repetitive
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews