Contrary to popular belief, the proportion of agency workers in Israel is similar to other developed countries, according to a study from the Taub Centre for Social Policy Studies in Israel, reports jpost.com.

The study by Dr Noam Gruber, to be published in the upcoming annual State of the Nation Report 2015, rejects the claim that the number of agency workers in Israel is especially high.

The claim is prevalent because the term “agency worker” has become a catch-all term for temporary staff of all sorts, whether directly or indirectly employed, the report says.

“This lack of clarity, which is only made worse by the dearth of organised research findings, makes it difficult to estimate the scope of the phenomenon in Israel and compare with the rest of the world, and leads to exaggerations and inaccuracies,” said Dr Gruber.

The study distinguishes between two types of workers – those hired through employment agencies who work under the supervision of the client, and contract workers who are outsourced or subcontracted, a method whereby the client buys the service but does not directly supervise the workers.

Estimates regarding the number of agency workers include both types of workers, while data from other countries refers primarily to employment agency workers alone.

When comparing only employment agency workers against OECD data from other countries, Israel’s rate of agency workers as a proportion of all employed persons in the country is relatively low, at about 0.8%, using data from 2011 and 2012.

When contract workers are added to the data, despite their different employment characteristics, the rate rises to 4.9%.

According to the report, the distinction between employment agency workers and contract workers includes essential differences in the socioeconomic profile of the workers.

The two groups are distinguished by the age of the workers, with employment agency workers relatively young in comparison to workers overall. In 2011, the median age among all employed persons in Israel was 39, while the median age of employment agency workers was 33.

In contrast, the median age of contract workers was 46.

 “One could claim that the employment experience and the flexibility of [employment through employment agencies is] useful to both employer and employee, and in the more rigid labour market this type of employment fills a serious need,” explained Dr Gruber.

Another characteristic of agency workers is the relatively high proportion of women, especially among contract workers, where they make up 57.4% of the workforce.

An additional characteristic of agency workers is that they generally work in part-time positions; although many of them would like to work more hours, the study showed.

Dr Gruber concluded that the different characteristics of the two types of agency workers requires different policy steps.

“Employment agency workers are, in general, a younger group made up of a relatively high proportion of students. Relative to contract workers, they are closer to the general employed population in terms of education level, the rates of women and immigrants, and their number of work hours,” explained Dr Gruber.

In his report Dr Gruber discussed the possibility of lengthening the permitted employment period through an agency, which is currently no more than nine months, to allow the workers “employment continuity and the chance to gain more work experience”.

He also recommended improving flexibility in the labour market, saying that “if we wish to lessen the harm to weaker employees, employment terms in the labour market must be made more flexible, especially in the public sector, and the rights of agency workers must be enforced, particularly those of the contract worker”.