Temporary-help jobs offer rapid entry into paid employment, but they are typically brief and it is unknown whether they foster longer term employment. We utilize the unique structure of Detroit's welfare-to- work program to identify the effect of temporary-help jobs on labor market advancement....

The authors use case study evidence from the hospital and auto parts manufacturing industries to investigate why employers used--and even increased their use of--temporary help agencies during a period of tight labor markets in the 1990s. In high-skill occupations, one apparent reason employers...