A retreat from permanent employment?: Accounting for the rise of professional agency work in UK public services

TY - JOUR

T1 - A retreat from permanent employment?: Accounting for the rise of professional agency work in UK public services

AU - Kirkpatrick, Ian

AU - Hoque, Kim

PY - 2006

Y1 - 2006

N2 - The last five years have witnessed a steady growth in the use of agency workers to fill core professional roles in public sector organizations. Whereas in the past the use of agency workers was driven mainly by employer demands for improved flexibility, this current expansion is predominantly supply led occurring against a backdrop of increasingly tight labour markets. In this article our objective is to explore some of the factors that lie behind this change. Specifically, we raise questions about how far current trends can be explained using the ‘free agent perspective’ and the notion of portfolio careers. Focusing on one group of professionals in the UK public sector -local authority social workers -we find only limited evidence to support this interpretation. Instead, it is argued that current moves into agency work are in large part a reaction to increasing rigidities in the employment system and to deteriorating conditions of work.

AB - The last five years have witnessed a steady growth in the use of agency workers to fill core professional roles in public sector organizations. Whereas in the past the use of agency workers was driven mainly by employer demands for improved flexibility, this current expansion is predominantly supply led occurring against a backdrop of increasingly tight labour markets. In this article our objective is to explore some of the factors that lie behind this change. Specifically, we raise questions about how far current trends can be explained using the ‘free agent perspective’ and the notion of portfolio careers. Focusing on one group of professionals in the UK public sector -local authority social workers -we find only limited evidence to support this interpretation. Instead, it is argued that current moves into agency work are in large part a reaction to increasing rigidities in the employment system and to deteriorating conditions of work.

U2 - 10.1177/0950017006069806

DO - 10.1177/0950017006069806

M3 - Article

SN - 0950-0170

VL - 20

SP - 649

EP - 666

JO - Work, Employment and Society

JF - Work, Employment and Society

IS - 4

ER -