USA Today (08/16/13) Laura Newberry

Most of the temporary jobs available nationwide are in the manufacturing industry, where employers say temporary employees allow them to better manage fluctuations in supply and demand. Judy Nagengast, chief executive of the Anderson, IN-based staffing firm Continental Inc., says temporary employment also allows employers to test workers before offering them permanent jobs.

Brian Burton, vice president of the Indiana Manufacturers Association, notes that a provision of the Affordable Care Act requiring companies with more than 50 full-time employees to offer health insurance by 2015 has “certainly had a stifling effect on permanent job creation.” Moreover, Michael Hicks, director of Ball State University’s Bureau of Research, says employers are hiring temporary workers because they can, because unemployed individuals desperate for work often will take any job available. Some experts are concerned that such a strategy will reduce quality and boost costs for manufacturers over the long term, destabilizing the industry.