The Precarious Expendable Workforce - Being Under Contract for a Staffing Agency

I am sick of this. 20 years later, I find myself once again doing temp work. The Canadian economy has failed to adapt to international competition and I therefore do not blame myself for this ongoing challenge to find work related to my career. Nevertheless, having to submit to the conditions of a temp agency is not agreeable. It feels exploitative, deflating, and unfair. While I understand the nature of the business, that is a few people find clients and sell off man hours of labour, the difference in hourly wage accounts for :

• Income for workers of the staffing agency
• Overhead - rent, utilities
• Insurance and licencing

I have an advanced degree, yet the opportunities that the agency offers me labour jobs like doing janitorial work in a factory. Without providing details about an "opportunity", only a date, the agency expressed their need of a worker. I said that I would be available. It ended being a moving job which was a little too dangerous for my liking.  The kicker : I was paid $12 an hour, the staffing agency was collecting $19.

The Rise of the Permanent Temp Economy
Erin Hatton's book  : http://www.amazon.ca/Temp-Economy-Permatemps-Postwar-America-ebook/dp/B006K0E58W/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1443354832&sr=1-1&keywords=9781439900826

http://www.propublica.org/article/the-expendables-how-the-temps-who-power-corporate-giants-are-getting-crushe


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/17/1120933/-Staffing-agencies-are-above-the-law

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/jobs/with-temporary-workers-flexibilitys-the-name-of-the-game/article583174/

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/jobs/canadas-shift-to-a-nation-of-temporary-workers/article11721139/

http://inthesetimes.com/article/15972/permatemps_in_manufacturing

http://www.thespec.com/news-story/5677195-a-dime-a-dozen-ontario-s-eye-popping-shift-to-low-wage-work/

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/03/31/too-many-ontario-workers-exploited-laws-need-quick-overhaul-study-urges.html

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/17/1120933/-Staffing-agencies-are-above-the-law

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/01/upshot/the-changing-face-of-temporary-employment.html?_r=0