Atypical employment - Bad jobs?

This article examines job quality among employees involved in atypical employment relations. Employment relations are conceptualized along two dimensions: open-ended versus fixed-term contracts and dyadic versus triadic employment relations. The analyses are based on a survey of 2,432 employees in Norway. We present three main findings. First, temporary workers leased out through temporary help agencies (triadic employment relations) have the lowest job quality in terms of pay, autonomy, career development, and job security. This finding holds also when controlling for education, seniority, working hours, establishment size, and sector. Second, workers in triadic employment relations, who have open-ended contracts, often report just as high job quality as workers in standard employment. This is particularly the case for men and to a less extent for women. Third, despite low job security, workers in atypical employment often perceive it as easy, or at least easier, to find alternative jobs than do workers in standard employment. The findings partly support the thesis that atypical employment is tantamount to a poor job; however, these is diversity in these jobs.