Project Overview

Racial discrimination prevents Black workers and other workers of color from reaching their full labor market potential. Although discrimination in employment is illegal, it is a common practice in many workplaces. Companies are also increasingly relying on temporary staffing agencies to cut labor costs. Black workers seeking work through staffing agencies report being consistently passed over for work assignments, yet documenting systemic discrimination in temporary staffing requires rigorous investigative methods, such as matched-pair testing.

A research team led by the National Legal Advocacy Network, the Equal Rights Center, and Bendick and Egan Economic Consultants will conduct matched-pair testing at staffing agencies that place temporary workers in the light industrial sector, in which workers process and ship a range of consumer goods in factories and warehouses. This method for documenting discriminatory hiring practices was piloted in Illinois, and the research team aims to scale this approach to select staffing agencies nationwide. This research aims to generate evidence of potentially discriminatory practices by staffing agencies and host companies, promote better enforcement of antidiscrimination laws, and shed light on the experiences of temporary workers, a particularly vulnerable population in the labor market.

Research

Employer practices Report December 13, 2023

Temporary Staffing Industry Testing Report

The temporary staffing industry is a $186 billion sector. The National Legal Advocacy Network team used matched-pair testing in Harris County, Texas, and Nashville, Tennessee, to generate evidence on potentially unlawful employment practices in this industry and found widespread racial and gender discrimination in access to work. These tests showed that agencies offered fewer job opportunities, lower wages, and less frequent follow-ups to workers who were women and/or Black than they did to Latinx workers and men.

Grantee Research

December 13, 2023