The number of hours worked by private sector temporary workers increased by 35% in January, according to procurer of temporary agency labour de Poel.

And de Poel says this overall increase in temporary labour usage is in spite of bad weather caused by heavy snowfall earlier this year.

Last month, temporary worker use doubled in waste management in line with a shift from landfill to recycling contracts necessitating more employees, while in the logistics sector, usage rose by 66%.

Chief executive of de Poel, Matthew Sanders, says: “The increase in temporary agency staff usage across the board confirms that companies are relying heavily on temporary agency labour as a means of guiding them out of the recession.

“The care sector is unlike any other industry, in that their workforce is already heavily supplemented by temporary agency workers, and usage levels remain much higher than in any other industry.

“It comes as no surprise to us that overall use of temps has fallen as budgets have been tightened - just as other sectors have had to cut back on their permanent staff, care organisations have been forced to reduce the number of temporary agency workers.

 “The care sector doesn’t have the luxury of turning to temporary agency labour as a means of preparing for an upturn, as temporary agency staff already make up a substantial part of their workforce.”