ABSTRACT

The flexibility inherent in temporary agency work allows employers to cut labour cost in a variety of ways. Recurring themes in the employment literature draw attention to the duality of the labour market rooted in type-of-contract segmentation. This duality in the labour market carries with it a number of undesirable consequences. Drawing on qualitative data from six case studies in Pakistan, this paper reports on an in-depth study of deceitful labour market intermediaries, through which employers attempt to bypass statutory obligations concerning workers’ constitutional rights. A case study inquiry, based on qualitative interviews, suggested that the agencies were ‘created’ or ‘arranged’ to illustrate indirectness of employment relationship by misclassifying effectively permanent employees as ‘agency workers’. The evidence points towards a growing trend for agencies to be, simply, a sham arrangement. This study broadens our comprehension about the nature of temporary agency employment and subsequent labour market duality in Pakistan, beyond the traditional functional model of legitimate labour market intermediaries. Precarious work in Pakistan, a large and growing economy, shares many features in common with the rest of the world. These findings offer useful policy and social implications for national and multinational companies.

摘要

临时代理工作所固有的灵活性使雇主可以通过多种方式削减人工成本。就业文献中反复出现的主题引起人们对源自合同类型细分的劳动力市场二元性的关注。劳动力市场的这种双重性带来了许多不良后果。本文利用来自巴基斯坦的六个案例研究的定性数据，报告了对欺骗性劳动力市场中介机构的深入研究，通过该研究，雇主试图绕过有关工人宪法权利的法定义务。一项基于定性访谈的案例研究表明，“创建”或“安排”了中介机构，以通过有效地将长期雇员误分类为“中介工作者”来说明雇佣关系的间接性。证据表明，代理机构将成为简单的伪造安排的趋势正在增长。这项研究拓宽了我们对巴基斯坦临时代理人雇用性质和随后的劳动力市场二元性的理解，超越了合法劳动力市场中介人的传统职能模型。巴基斯坦是一个庞大且不断增长的经济体，其不稳定的工作与世界其他地区具有许多共同点。这些发现为国家和跨国公司提供了有用的政策和社会意义。一个庞大且成长中的经济体，与世界其他地方具有许多共同点。这些发现为国家和跨国公司提供了有用的政策和社会意义。一个庞大且成长中的经济体，与世界其他地方具有许多共同点。这些发现为国家和跨国公司提供了有用的政策和社会意义。