There is still a perception in continental Europe that agency workers cater for the lower end of the job market, a leading industry official has said.

Denis Pennel, managing director of the European Confederation of Private Employment Agencies (Eurociett), a trade body which represents temporary employment agencies across Europe, contended that there were "too many misconceptions" about temporary recruitment, chief among them the belief in Europe that agencies only provided staff with low skill levels.

Pennel, who was speaking at a meeting of the Association of Technology Staff- ing Companies (ATSCo) in Brussels on 2 May, told members that despite this, the industry was becoming more recognised and legitimate.

The next step, Pennel told members, was to bring the issue of "flexicurity" — the concept of job security and flexibility — up the European agenda.

"We see flexicurity as a good way of improving the image of the industry," he added.

Pennel added that he wanted "flexicurity" to form the basis of a redrafted Agency Workers' Directive. "The directive, in its current form, is outdated and we don't want it."

Across Europe, 3m agency workers are employed daily, 1.2m of these in the UK.

Pennel's comments were particularly timely as the CIETT World Employment Conference gets under way today (16 May) in Dublin.

Sean McGuire, senior policy advisor at employers' organisation CBI, who also spoke at the meeting, agreed with Pennel's view. "There's still a suspicion that it is agency workers who form the lower end of the job market," he said.

The meeting, in Brussels, was ATSCo's first on continental Europe.