Paying Outsourced Labor: Direct Evidence from Linked Temp Agency-Worker-Client Data

A-Tier
Journal: Review of Economics and Statistics
Year: 2023
Volume: 105
Issue: 1
Pages: 206-216

Authors (4)

Score contribution per author:

1.005 = (α=2.01 / 4 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We estimate how much firms differentiate pay premia between regular and outsourced workers in temp agency work arrangements. We leverage unique Argentinian administrative data that feature links between user firms (the workplaces where temp workers perform their labor) and temp agencies (their formal employers). We estimate that a high-wage user firm that pays a regular worker a 10% premium pays a temp worker on average only a 4.9% premium, compared to what these workers would earn in a low-wage user firm in their respective work arrangements. This 49% pass-through constitutes the midpoint between the benchmarks for insiders (one) and the competitive spot-labor market (zero).

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:tpr:restat:v:105:y:2023:i:1:p:206-216
Journal Field
General
Author Count
4
Added to Database
2026-01-25