The temporary employment take over of America.

That's right folks... This is my rant, and with good reason.

Temp agency's are everywhere. Every time I look in the paper there are some actually decent paying jobs, however, the only way to even think about getting that job, is by paying a company 185 usd to even tell you where that employment is. Is that not incredible? A broke, unemployed person is somehow someway supposed to come up with 185 usd to give to this company without even a guarantee of employment. They don't even help you get a foot in the door, they only give you the location.

So I took it upon myself, being that broke unemployed person,to go to a company and apply. Well I applied, got an interview and was hired. Great I'm thinking... I got a job at a decent place not far from home. The pay isn't so bad and it's not a temp position... WRONG!

Come check time I began to wonder where my check was. I walked into the office and asked for my check. They told me that they will send it to me in the mail. I asked who will be sending my check? Wouldn't you know it... Apparently I was hired I through a temp service. How could this be? Well they failed to inform me in the interview that the company does not hire even if you walked in such as myself. That they only hire through a temp service.

So here I am, I have employment, steamed out of my mind that I was fooled into this crap. Can't quit my job now because I have hospital bills equalling in the thousands. I was hoping that I would be getting some kind of medical benefits from the company, but since I don't work directly through the company, no benefits.

My rant is this. Temp agency's are destroying our economy. They drive down wages, and they make it so the company does not have to furnish you with any type of benefits or wage increases. I am truly disgusted with our country and the direction we are headed.

If anyone else has a similar story please share and if you have any tips of tricks that could help out please share.

Thank you for taking the time to read my rant.

I've often thought temp services are destroying America. They definitely have a stranglehold on the industrial positions! People go to work through the temp service and work next to a full time employee, doing the same jobs, for less money, and no benefits. (Or VERY expensive benefits.) The one that I find hilarious is Honda of America. They continually spout how they never lay off, etc... But, not only do they use temp services, but the also acquired Adecco to insure they maintain that stranglehold. If there were no more temp services, the companies would still have to fill those positions. Just another way to keep American's impoverished, or at least on the downward slide...

Ryan started the fire!

(The Office reference)

It's natural for businesses to favor temps in a tight economy.

But I think it's fair to say your thread title is a bit of an exaggeration.

Welcome to my world.
Good time isn't it. No benefits at all. Pay is lousey. company can get rid of you at any time for no reason at all. The company you work for doesn't even have to pay for unemployment. The temp agency is responsible for that.
My advice is find out everything you can about the temp agency. They may offer benny's after a certian amount of time.

Did they say it was temp to hire? Don't believe them. Plan on being there until the temp contract expires wheter it be 3 or 6 months. Save anything you can from your pay cause you're gonna need it when the contract expires.

But I do good work you say. So do I. I have many years of experience at what I do and I'm good at it. Here's the truth. They don't care. They know there's 50 other people just like you out there. You are now officially disposible.
Sorry, but that's the way it is these days.

I hope that you get lucky and are with a company that actually hires temps after their contract expires. Don't plan on it. Those companies are few and far between these days. I've been with a temp agency for almost 2 years now. Soon as the contract expires I'm back on unemployment, till the next temp opening comes along.

reply to post by Enemyc0mbatant


How about this one. I recently went and applied at a local temp agency "employment plus" and in the process of filling out the paper work I noticed a disclaimer that I must sign to be employed with through the agency, it says.

"If at any time during the course of your employments with "employment plus" you break any of the rules set forth in our hand book your wages for the previously worked week will be reduced to the state or federal minimum wage, which ever is lower"

This has to be illegal, how can I work a job that pays $15 an hour and because I break even one of the over 250 rules in the handbook my pay for time already worked gets retroactively cut to the state or federal minimum wage which ever is lower, after they agreed to pay me $15 an hour and I agreed to work for it, and did indeed already work those hours?

This is getting to be litteral slave labor, as noobody would ever run an injection molding machine for $7.50 an hour. It is highway robery.

They caused the mortgage melt down.....end result, cheap houses, investors scooping them up by the dozens only to rent them out.

They devalued the dollar through a few things, primarily deficit and stock crashes....end result, anyone that had any money saved, gone.

They destroyed the job market, break up unions, downsizing, obamacare, and any number of excuses for companies to layoff or fire full time employees....end result, put the employee at the mercy of a company that will give them a dollar.

The final summary, make us all renters, pay us a pittance to survive, and give us no security to rely on. The last decade or two has been nothing but a setup of the American population. 20 years ago, companies still had retirement plans....20 years ago, individuals had security in knowing they did a good job and had a future with a company they had been with for ten years.

We need to wake up as a society and understand it is us vs them, they are looking to siphon every last dollar, resource and material out of control of the general public and put it back in the hands of the elite.

reply to post by PatrickGarrow17


That may be so, but those same temp agencies will exist if the economy picks up.
Its the same here in Australia, very rare to see a full time job advertised. It gives the employer a chance to try before they buy.
If the employee doesn't work out, they'll finish the days work and get a call from the agency on the way home that they are no longer required, in affect you are employed by the agency not the company you are working at.
I was recently at a company for 4 months and was asked to go full time and the company had to pay the agency a lump sum, basically buying my contract.
I must say I have been full time 4 months now and have got lucky.
I think the trick is to sign with a number of agencies if possible, as one agency cant guarantee you 5 days of work per week, always have an ace up your sleeve.

reply to post by lonegurkha


I was hired by a temp agency for an attorneys office straight out of the Army. It was a 6 mos temp contract. At about 4 mos the employer notified me they were going to keep me...And they did. I think it is different in smaller sized cities than bigger ones....Or it could just be that I live in one of the largest armed forces states...I'm not sure. The temp agency was always up front me...I have no complaints, however that was 12 years ago. I know a lot of things have changed since then!

reply to post by pointr97


You have summed it up perfectly, they are doing and have done everything they can to make us reliant on them.
Once they have taken away your chances for employment, which stops you from paying your mortgage forcing you to rent if you are lucky to scrape up enough to pay the rent.
You then need to feed your family and yourself with GMO and contaminated foods which make you sick and is probably slowly killing you.
Meanwhile they entertain you, that is if you can afford to watch TV (which is dumbing you down anyway) the electricity bills are skyrocketing, who knows where that'll stop.
So they control Media, Food supply, Employment prospects, the Housing Market, Government and the Military.
So in effect, we are all screwed.
They are all Parasitic by nature, they sit in their ivory towers and leech all the nutrients from the middle and lower classes.
I hate to say it, but I think a lot of people are being backed into a corner and a revolution is brewing.

its really bad here in canada as well.
where i live,you can't even get a job unless you go through a temp agency.
i worked for a place for 2 months,all the workers said i was good and they will hire me.
then,one friday i left work feeling good about the weekend and my cell phone rang.
it was my temp agency telling me that the place i worked didn't need me anymore!!!!
thats how it works here,the company just ends the contract!
no notice at all! they wont tell you how long your 'contract' is for.
could be 2 months,could be 2 days!
gone are the days when you could just walk into a place and hand in a resume,
or fill out an application!

I have applied through three different temp agencies here in my town, and I have yet to be hired through them. (which is a good or a bad thing the way you look at it).

Every time I call in, it's that same old song and dance:

Me: Hi my name is Toastman* and I'm just checking in to see if I had any replies to my application.

Temp Agency: Oh I'm sorry, doesn't look like anyone's called in. Please check back next week.

Same time. Every week.

It's hard enough for me, a college student, beating out my peers and high schoolers for part time work, but when you factor in people who actually had careers but lost their jobs, It gets ridiculous.

I have had only 3 jobs since I entered the workforce, the longest lasting a year. It was a newspaper carrier, and I was a damn fine one at that. Sure it was only thirty some dollars every other week, but it kept most of my money troubles at bay until my mom made me quit. Some bs about "not contributing for the household" while I was trying to save up and leave her psychobi--- @$$.

I don't even know if I can take it anymore, and don't know which is worse: Listening to her complain about how I'm a lazy f***wit with no life or making an effort to look for work, only being turned away because I don't have the experience. I can't even get a job at McDonald's and my sister's almost a manager.

At least the only thing going for me is writing and camera work, as I want to pursue a career in the film industry, along with me shipping the heck out of here to BC as soon as my college courses end.


Not one of the saddest work stories out there, but it's mine.

reply to post by kudegras


I couldn't agree more, I have been saying this for some time now. The problem is though that as long as the people can barely scrape by nothing will happen, as long as they don't make too many people absolutely desperate, and to the point of havving litteralynothing left to lose, they will do nothing.

The problem though, is that by the time we all have nothing left to lose, we have no means of doing anything about it.

A revolution can't be fought by starved to the point of total weakness people. Hence the old military saying " an army fights on its stomache".

They will continue this slide until we have all had to pawn our possessions " I am in this boat right now, my ipod, my laptop, my guns, sold both my extra cars, live in a pathetically small place" as one can't make it to work to make a buck without $4.00 a gallon gas, and then rediculously high food prices, and soaring insurance csts with next to no actual benefit, as the copay is higher than I can ever afford anyways. Who has $1,000 lying around now days?

Car insurance is rediculous, I don't even have it a majority of the time, so when I can afford it it will not even pay out as my I never get to keep it long enough fr it to mature, and paying for 4 months than missing one month it is back to step one again.

This has got to stop, I am a good worker, I have many qualifications, I require no supervision as I am always doing my job wether the boss is watching or not, I am at work on time every day, I never call in as I can't afford to lose a days wage. I am just currently caught in a infinite loop of temp jobs, that lay off without warning so I am not prepared with another.

Then it all begins again, pawn the computer to get by for a couple weeks till I start the new job from another temp agencie, lose the car insurance, as I can't afford it, the cell goes next, now I have to pay early termination fees, I pawn the ipod for gas, I sell a gun for food, I finally start working, and 2 months later they lay off all the temps in one day, again without warning. Another week or two until I get another job, we start back over again.

I am seriously going and donating plasma now 2 times a week, for an extra $75 bucks a week. I can't keep doing this, I have kids ffs, every time I lose more, and regain less, now I am down to a 1 bedroom apartment, with no hope in sight. I "make too much " to get food stamps, apparently making $11.50 an hour for 45 hours a week is living the high life with 3 kids, as the welfare office told me sorray about my luck. At least the kids got hossier healthwise so they will be able to get medical care if needed.

There's always a middle man trying to get in on the action. The worse your situation, the more they are able to take advantage.

I feel for you, OP, and for those in a similar situation. Trying to make an honest living these days, well, be prepared for less than honest treatment. It's a sign of how bad things have really become. Makes me sick, but what can we do? Take advantage of the situation like the scumbags do, or be taken for a ride by them?

This type of thing, unfortunately, will only get worse a we slide further down the spiral.

Reading over my post, it sounds so negative, but that is the reality that I see. So many suffering right now, it's hard to get a handle on.

I know how all you guys feel. I work for a temp as well. I've been fortunate, tho, to be working at a co pant for a year and a half. So far so good. Living on a budget is t easy, that's for sure. Before this mess, my wife (then g/f) and I used to make hella decent money. I'm glad she is understanding and real good at budgeting.

I'm fortunate that the agency I work for offer bennies after a certain amount of hours worked. I already qualify
Keep your chin up. Lets all hope this mess clears up sometime in our lifetime.

All of the staffing agencies in my area charge the person looking for work ZERO dollars. Instead they charge the employer, which is how it should be.

reply to post by Starwise


Yes you are correct, things have changed. I'm hoping to be hired by a company who just contacted me and who seems real interested. They may be offering me a supervisor job, because of all the experience I have. I'll find out more next month when we have a face to face. It's probably the only way I'm ever gonna get out of the temp agency BS.

The truth is that if you are an older worker like me (I'm 58) nobody wants to hire you as permanent. Age discrimination is rife in America. I've been asked all kinds of questions about my age in interviews. But that's illegal you say. Try to prove it in court. It's your word against theirs. Recently I was asked if I was just looking for a place to retire from. I had to tell the HR person who was doing the interview that I can't afford to retire. Which is true.

I can't imagine what young people go through when they have no experience. I know when I was in my twenties the HR people pointed out the lack of experience due to being young. I used to say to them, If I can't get a job to aquire experience, then how do you think I'm ever going to get some? Of course they had no answer for this.

The truth about temp agency's and corporations is that the corporations can get workers and still produce without the expensive benefits and no liability for enemployment when they get rid of those people at the end of the contract.There's so many people out of work that there is an endless stream of people to replace the last one. So it has become a cycle that benefits the corporation. Temps are good for the bottom line and carry no liability for the corporation.

Every time I have an interview with some company thru the temp agency, the supervisor usually ends up telling me about all the guys who did the job before me. Some of these places have such a turnover that the temp agency has a person on site to process them. I just got an interview last week at a place like that.

Actually I think this was part of plan all along.

Strip down big business, massive layoffs and bring them back without benefits doing the same jobs for much less!

Just another opportunistic middleman (temp agency) that should NOT be a fixture in our economy. I can understand employers occasionally turning to them as they sometimes turn to head hunters, but the reality is that

1) as you said, they sometimes exclusively work with these agencies, and that simply doesn't make sense. Why not accept direct appliers who obviously have exceptional credentials? If they are too busy to entertain such applicants, their business is doomed. There is some kind of conspiracy here, some kind of benefit to the employers beyond the obvious that isn't clear.

2) these solutions (going through these hiring agencies) is no longer a good or practical solution. It's a similar problem with headhunters. A headhunters primary goal is to get the position filled, so that they get paid. They are perfectly happy to misrepresent applicants via artificially beefing up their credentials, presenting them in a dishonest manner, etc. Their goal isn't really to find the best people (which should be the hiring company's primary goal), but simply to get the position filled, regardless of who's TRULY the best fit for the job.

Just more B.S. we have to live with in today's times.

I've used temporary agencies since the early 1980s. Back then, if you were hired for a permanent position, you had to pay the temporary agency. That is not the way it happens anymore.

These days, a "temp to hire" position means that you will be an employee of the agency, and not the work site, for at least 3 to 6 months, until the agency gets their pound of flesh out of you. After that point, the work site employer is free to hire you if they want to. During that time, you have no benefits, and can be terminated for any reason.

Most manufacturing and large scale government contractors use temporary agencies. Those agencies have taken over the HR duties and wormed their way into many large companies.

I have gotten quite a few permanent positions via agencies, but they were never the good jobs, they were always sweat-shop type jobs in which all the employees are treated like expendable crap. After I was hired by the company, the job still sucked, only I paid for some meager benefits.

On the other hand, my daughter, who is a dental assistant, relocated to another town, and I told her to use a temp agency for dental. This actually worked out well for her, as she was hired straight away by a dentist who paid the agency a lump sum in order for her to be their employee. I guess it depends on what field you're in.

For most of us, it's just an employment mill. For a few with specific skills, it does work out well.

There are specific rules which the agency cannot do. For the poster who said that their agency reserved the right to dock their pay to minimum wage, I highly doubt that is legal. I wouldn't use that agency, and I would do some research to see if their B.S. is legal in your particular area. Turn them in. It is my understanding that any employer (agency or not) cannot dock pay, they can only cut bonuses.