“ A contract or temporary employee is generally hired by a staffing firm and then placed in a company for a finite period of time. Companies frequently use contract employees to work on projects with predetermined life-cycles. ”

Major advantages of hiring temporary labor typically concern the cost savings that an employer might realize. To gain these advantages, an employer must compare temporary employees with the alternative of part-time and full-time regular employees. If an employer does not need regular labor, then the major advantage is scalability, conveniently being able to add or reduce the worker payroll per business needs.