Temporary agency work in the SOEP: Coping with data quality problems

Abstract

In principle, the SOEP is a highly adequate data source for analyzing the socio-economic background of temporary agency workers. In this paper, it’s argued that on second glance, the SOEP’s temp worker variable shows severe problems with data quality. An easy-to-use adjustment procedure is proposed that alleviates the problem, but is not an encompassing solution. Therefore, it is concluded that in the long term, the questionnaire needs to be improved.