Wow, what tremendous growth temporary employment in Germany has experienced. While it was still in the region of 100,000 in the 1980s, it grew steadily and expanded enormously from the 1990s onwards, particularly in the 2000s.
It is also interesting to note how the number of self-employed people has developed. Similar to people in temporary employment, there has been enormous growth (note that the numbers below are 1,000s).
This shows that flexible, even independent workforce is a megatrend in the labor market – in Germany, but from my impression it is no different elsewhere.
The reasons for this are obvious to me: Companies certainly don’t have it as easy as they used to, when energy prices, taxes, regulations, etc. were lower. Strong new competitors have also emerged, such as China, which is intensifying competition.
In the long term, I believe this will increasingly lead to a situation where only a small proportion of permanent employees are part of the company, and the majority of the work is outsourced, with external agents (freelancers) and teams dynamically delivering what the company needs.