Bridge or trap? Temporary workers' transitions to unemployment and to the standard employment contract

This article analyses the transitions of temporary workers to the standard employment contract and to unemployment. Adopting a comparative framework in an attempt to identify whether labour market institutions parameterize outcomes, four countries with different forms of market structuration are analysed: France, West Germany, Denmark, and the UK. Using the European Community Household Panel survey (ECHP), spanning a period from 1995 to 2001, temporary workers' transitions are investigated using event history analysis techniques. This article establishes higher rates of transition to permanent employment than to unemployment for most temporary workers, though strong between-country differences are found.