Watch out for temporary jobs!

What we’re going through in the job market right now is just the beginning. Labor market expert Tino Senoner (63) refers to this with a smile as “the start”. The shortage of skilled workers is so severe that workers can take more and more freedom. As Blick reports, in nursing, among other things, this means that more and more people work temporarily rather than permanently.

“Sooner or later this will affect all sectors,” Şenoner predicts. It is not a question of short-term impact, but of long-term disruption in the labor market. According to Senoner, the trend towards greater freedom for employees will last at least eight years, thanks in part to temporary work.

Only then will the shortage of skilled workers reach its peak. In 2030 the baby boomer retirement wave will end, until then the gap will continue to widen. Şenoner calculates, “Today we have a shortage of 130,000 workers, in 2025 it will be 360,000.”

“There is a risk of retirement deficit”

This is a boon for workers: they are in great demand in the job market and can set their own terms. However, Véronique Polito (45), Vice-President of the Unia union, warns, “In the long run, temporary work can become a boomerang.”

In some cases, temporary workers enjoy greater freedom and generally better hourly wages. However, they are even worse when it comes to social insurance. For temporary assignments of less than three months, you are not automatically insured according to column 2. “There is a risk of a retirement gap,” Polito says.

Moreover, the flexibility provided by temporary contracts applies not only to the employee but also to the employer. “Income is more difficult to plan, which leads to more stress and uncertainty in life planning in general,” Polito says. In the worst case, the job went overnight.

Temporary jobs over 50s

And: Not everyone changes voluntarily. An above-average number of seniors work as temporary workers. They no longer take a permanent position – because the old age guillotine continues despite the shortage of skilled workers. Despite its upward shift, it is still ubiquitous, as studies have shown.

Labor market expert Tino Senoner warns that temporary work, even for young people, can become a problem in the medium term: “Anyone who works temporarily for years without further training is putting their employability at risk.” The danger: You don’t learn anything, you just get stuck with old technology that will become obsolete in a few years.

“Anyone working on a temporary basis should take more responsibility for their own career planning,” Senoner warns. Thanks to the personnel hire collective agreement, temporary workers are also entitled to vocational training – but again in positions of at least three months.

Temporary work is not a solution to the shortage of skilled workers, neither for employees nor employers. Ultimately, experts agree that working conditions in the affected sectors need to be improved. Then the staff are ready to dedicate themselves to a company in the long run.