Two Faces of Organizational Responses to Employment Protection

• In Event: 4422 - Section on Sociology of Law Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 03. The Law and Organizations in Action

Abstract

Using household survey data or aggregate national-level employment data, labor economists have argued that employment protections increase temporary agency employment. The analyses of aggregate national trends, however, cannot distinguish the diffusion of temporary employment within firms from the diffusion of temporary employment across firms. Using a longitudinal employment data from representative sample, I conduct event history analyses to examine the diffusion of temporary agency employment in American organizations from 1971 to 2000. This study finds that employment protections have restrained, not fostered, the diffusion of temporary agency employment. The analyses demonstrate that an organization that has experienced discrimination suits is less likely to adopt the employment. An organization that has had an EEO policy in place for a long time is less likely to adopt temporary agency workers. Thus, this suggests that the enforcement and intraorganizational consequences of employment protections have restrained the adoption of temporary agency employment in American firms.

Author

• Soohan Kim, Korea University