Ninety-nine percent of temporary and contract employees who want permanent positions achieve this career objective, according to the American Staffing Association's 2014 ASA Staffing Employee Survey.

Virtually all survey respondents indicated that securing a permanent job was important to them, and 49 percent stated that finding permanent employment was the primary reason for choosing to work in the staffing industry.

The last ASA Staffing Employee Survey was conducted in 2006. Overall, this year’s survey results are almost identical to the 2006 survey.

“The results of the landmark 2014 ASA Staffing Employee Survey verify that temporary and contract work is an effective bridge to permanent employment,” said ASA President and CEO Richard Wahlquist.

Other key findings of the survey include:

• Nearly 90 percent of staffing employees said that temporary or contract work makes them more employable.
• Work schedule flexibility is also important to staffing employees, with 22 percent of respondents stating this as a reason for choosing temporary or contract employment.
• Temporary and contract employees are about as likely to work full time as all adults in the U.S. labor force — 76 percent versus 82 percent, respectively —and among those staffing employees who bridged to permanent jobs, 94 percent work full time.

The survey was conducted by the polling firm Penn Shoen Berland on behalf of the American Staffing Association and included nearly 12,000 current and former temporary or contract employees from 275 staffing companies.