Book Reviews

Using the backdrop of an economy emerging from a decade of restructuring and on the brink of the longest expansion on record, this paper is an exploratory work that examines employer-provided training to temporary workers and the characteristics of firms associated with that training. The focus is on the training of two types of temporary workers: intermediated workers employed by temporary agencies and working for other firms and "in-house" temporary workers who are employed by the firm for which they are working. Results indicate that factors associated with the training of regular or standard employees differ from those factors associated with the training of temporaries. Further, factors associated with the training of the two types of temporary workers differ.     

There's No Place Like Home

A bstract .   Employment stability for many nonstandard workers is tenuous and early research shows some types of nonstandard employment carry long-term consequences in the form of lower wages and fewer benefits over time. This paper seeks to add to the literature by considering another long-term consequence for nonstandard workers: the inability of some nonstandard workers to accumulate assets. The particular asset this paper focuses on is home ownership. Logistic regression results using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 suggest that current and past employment in some nonstandard jobs, especially as a temporary worker, is associated with a lower probability of owning a home. This may have repercussions not only for households with temporary workers but for their community as well, since home ownership has been tied to positive spillovers such as increased social capital and community involvement.