Executive Summary

At any given moment, more than 157,000 people in Florida are behind bars.2 Florida “locks up a higher percentage of its people than any independent democratic country on earth.”3 But incarceration is only the most visible part of a much larger system of carceral control and labor extraction, a “continuum” that extends far beyond prison walls.4

Most people leaving prison do not walk out free. Instead, they return home under a form of state surveillance and control broadly referred to in this report as “state supervision,” or a court-imposed condition that can last for years, often longer than the original sentence itself. Forms of state supervision include house arrest, probation, community control, conditional release, and parole. In Florida alone, more than 164,000 people are currently under some form of state supervision.5

State supervision imposes conflicting demands. It requires people to maintain employment, pay monthly supervision fees, and cover the costs of mandatory drug tests, classes, counseling, and other court-ordered programs. Missing a single payment or appointment can be deemed a violation and send a person back to jail. At the same time, curfews, travel restrictions, bans on certain types of work, and required activities during business hours—including in-person check-ins and mandatory classes—make holding a steady job nearly impossible. It is a system that commands people to work while setting them up to fail.

Thus, for the 6.2 million Floridians with a criminal record—36 percent of the state’s population6—finding a job can be both a legal obligation and a matter of survival. There are bills to pay, court fines and fees to cover, and probation officers to satisfy. Yet stable, living-wage work is difficult to secure for most workers, and even more so for those with records. Many employers outsource background checks to third-party screening companies that automatically exclude people with records before a hiring manager ever sees their application. Meanwhile, the curfews, travel restrictions, and mandatory check-ins imposed by state supervision make traditional full-time jobs nearly impossible to maintain.

Florida has the third-largest incarcerated population in the country, with roughly 157,000 people incarcerated in state prisons7 and another 55,763 people incarcerated in county jail facilities on any given day.8 These daily numbers understate the scale of the system: Florida sees over 350,000 unique jail admissions each year,9 a constant churn that destabilizes families and communities

An additional 164,000 people are under state supervision,10 such as probation, at any moment, a figure that does not include the thousands more under county supervision. In Miami-Dade County, for example, nearly 18 percent of people under the control of the Miami-Dade County Department of Correction & Rehabilitation (MDCR) are on house arrest rather than in jail,11 yet these figures are not aggregated and reported at the state level. 

In total, about 6.2 million Floridians, or 36 percent of the state’s population, have a criminal record.12

As a result, temp agencies have become the default employers for people reentering the community after incarceration.

What Is the Temp Industry?

The term “temp industry” refers to a network of corporations that recruit, hire, and supply workers to host employers for short- or long-term assignments, acting as intermediaries between host employers and workers. These intermediaries—temp agencies—employ the workers directly but contract them out to other firms, which supervise their day-to-day work. The temp agency handles payroll, insurance, and other administrative matters, while the host employer pays the agency a fee for the worker’s labor. That fee is ultimately paid by workers themselves, reflected in lower wages, fewer benefits, and the so-called “savings” on labor costs that agencies promise to employers. In short, temp agencies match workers with job assignments at host employers and make their money by charging those companies a markup on the worker’s hourly wage.

This arrangement creates a three-way relationship among the worker, temp agency, and host employer that shields both the temp agency and the host employer from accountability. The agency disclaims responsibility for conditions at the worksite, and the host employer claims it is not the employer. The result is a structure that fragments responsibility, obscures who profits from workers’ labor, and makes it extraordinarily difficult for workers to assert their rights.

The temp industry is vast, spanning nearly every sector of the economy—from engineering, accounting, and education to manufacturing, logistics, and construction. Most agencies specialize within a single tier of the labor market, contracting either white-collar or blue-collar placements with host employers. In Florida, there are two main segments of the temp industry to understand: labor pools, which supply workers to blue-collar jobs, and conventional temp agencies, which supply workers to both blue- and white-collar jobs.

Labor pools represent the most informal and precarious tier of the temp industry. They do not conduct background checks and are concentrated in the lowest-income areas of the county, operating out of small storefronts known as “labor halls.” Defined and regulated under Florida’s Labor Pool Act (FLPA) as agencies that “recruit, employ, or hire temp workers to perform unskilled labor on a daily basis,”13 they hire people for day-to-day or short-term manual labor, typically at construction sites. Workers are required to arrive before dawn and wait, sometimes hours, for a “ticket” assigning them to a job site. They rarely know in advance how much they will earn, and they are typically paid at the end of each day via cash, check, or direct deposit. This daily cycle—waiting, dispatch, transport, and return for pay—reveals the industry’s defining features: instability, opacity, and control.

Conventional temp agencies supply workers to host employers for assignments that can last from a few days to several years. While these agencies once operated primarily from storefront offices near the host employers they served, most now conduct recruitment and placement online, using centralized databases to match applicants with available jobs. Workers typically apply through agency websites or mobile apps, and after submitting applications, they are entered into the agency’s database and contacted when a matching job becomes available, often within a few days or weeks. Assignments are usually full-shift positions and paid weekly or biweekly through standard payroll systems. Administrative staff at these agencies tend to screen applicants into blue-collar or white-collar positions depending on their criminal background, so workers with records who find employment through these agencies often work in warehouses, factories, and hospitality. Depending on the nature of the assignment and how workers are dispatched, some of these agencies may also fall under the regulatory scope of the FLPA.

This report focuses on blue-collar temp work, via labor pools as well as conventional temp agencies. To understand how this system operates, Beyond the Bars conducted extensive field research, complemented by quantitative data analysis and a review of existing literature. This research revealed four major findings:

01. Temp work is an important source of employment for workers with records. 

Across Florida, temp agencies play a significant role in the broader labor market, not only for people with records but for workers across low-wage industries. Florida ranks third in the country for the number of temp workers it employs—about 162,000 people in any given week.14 But that figure tells only part of the story. Because many temp jobs last only days or weeks, the total number of Floridians who cycle through temp work each year is far higher, more than 888,000 people, or roughly 4% of the state’s population, according to the American Staffing Association (ASA).15

For people returning from incarceration, the share is dramatically higher. Based on Beyond the Bars’ field research in 2024, more than 70 percent of individuals coming home from prison or jail in South Florida seek employment through a temp agency at some point within the first three years of reentry.16 A 2023 survey conducted by Beyond the Bars found that 57 percent of respondents were unable to find a full-time job paying minimum wage within one year of their release.17

Temp agencies occupy this role for two main reasons. First, they are often the only employers willing to hire people with records, as other jobs may be closed off by background checks, licensing restrictions, liability concerns, or blanket hiring bans. Second, the day-to-day, on-call nature of temp work, often presented as “flexibility,” accommodates the unpredictable demands of state supervision, such as mandatory appointments during work hours and curfews, but at the cost of stability and security.

02. Despite their importance as a source of employment, temp jobs keep workers with records trapped in a cycle of precarious work and incarceration. 

In temp jobs, wages are low and benefits are few. Workers in blue-collar workplaces are frequently injured on the job, often while performing dangerous or physically demanding tasks without adequate safety training or equipment. With no health insurance or job security and limited legal recourse, a single injury can result in a lifetime loss of earnings. Workplace injuries and wage theft are significantly more common for temp workers than for direct hires performing the same job.

Meanwhile, steep “placement fees” discourage host employers from hiring temp workers as long-term employees, making it harder for temps to secure more stable employment with better wages and, crucially, benefits such as health insurance. Temp agencies charge these fees, typically thousands of dollars, to host employers that wish to hire a temp worker directly. As a result, some workers become “permatemps,” working for months or even years at a single worksite without getting hired directly by the host employer or receiving benefits.

The result is a workforce trapped in temp jobs, performing the same labor as permanent employees but without the pay, stability, or protection.

03. Temp agencies exert an unreasonable amount of control over workers with records.  

Although temp workers are formally covered by existing labor and employment laws, their precarious employment status makes it difficult to exercise those rights in practice. A so-called “troublesome” temp can easily be removed from an assignment or denied future placements, and because the work is temporary, it is often impossible to prove that such actions constitute unlawful retaliation. 

Moreover, since temp workers are legally classified as employees of the agency, not of the host employer (where they actually work and generate value), they lack standard workplace rights in relation to that host employer. As a result, key protections such as the right to unionize, challenge wrongful termination, or hold the host employer accountable for violations such as sexual harassment or discrimination are severely limited or effectively nullified.

For temp workers under state supervision, the stakes are even higher. If the temp agency stops assigning them work because they spoke out about a workplace issue, they not only lose their source of income but may also be reincarcerated. 

In other words, the mechanics of state supervision increase employer control, allowing employers to “discipline” workers for exercising their legally protected rights through the ever-present threat of incarceration. At the same time, supervision rules such as mandatory check-ins and workplace visits by state supervision officers can make it difficult for people to obtain or maintain full-time employment.

04. The problems with the industry are structural, not just the result of a few bad actors.

Because profit margins for temp agencies are typically razor-thin, there are powerful incentives to cut corners and skirt the law, rather than competing based on the value of the services they provide. 

At its core, the temp industry relies on a triangular employment relationship in which the agency serves as the employer of record while the host employer supervises the work. By taking on this role, temp agencies enable host employers to hire people with records while distancing themselves from the legal obligations that come with direct employment. This structure allows them to evade labor and employment laws, as well as the costs associated with unemployment and workers’ compensation insurance. It not only shields host employers from liability but also drives down their labor costs over time, since wages and benefits stagnate under the temp model.

When problems arise—whether wage theft, unsafe conditions, or workplace injuries—temp workers are often left in limbo, with neither the temp agency nor the host employer accepting responsibility for the issue. In fact, insulating host employers from liability, including through loopholes in the workers’ compensation and unemployment systems, is one of the primary reasons many companies rely on temp agencies in the first place.

The industry also benefits from hidden public subsidies, most notably the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC), which was intended to encourage stable employment for workers facing barriers (including those with felony convictions), but in practice often subsidizes high-turnover, low-wage temp placements instead.

Recommendations

With these findings in mind, this report presents our vision for reforming the temp industry to create real pathways for workers with records reentering the workforce. Grounded in our “Economic Freedom Agenda,” our recommendations outline a roadmap that aims to raise standards within the temp industry and expand access to stable, high-quality employment, rerouting workers with records from temporary, precarious jobs to lasting, dignified work. Designed for those operating in hostile political climates where municipal and state-level reforms are difficult, these recommendations span private-sector, administrative, and legislative actions.

01. Create pathways into good jobs for workers with records

a. Partner with unions on pathways to stable employment for temp workers with records. The ultimate solution is not better temp jobs, it’s fewer temp jobs. Put another way, it’s offering workers with records regular employment with rights and a living wage. One strategy is partnering with unions to create job readiness, pre-apprenticeship, and registered apprenticeship programs designed for the specific challenges experienced by workers with records. These programs can connect workers to long-term careers in the public sector, as well as in the skilled trades (such as carpentry and electrical work), and in industrial sectors (such as manufacturing and logistics), while expanding union membership and leadership opportunities for workers with records.

Beyond training, unions can also advance record-inclusive collective bargaining agreements that explicitly protect workers with records from discrimination, and include scheduling flexibility that allows workers under supervision to meet court-mandated obligations without risking their jobs. At the same time, unions can incorporate reentry benefits, such as expungement clinics, probation termination support, and transportation or tool subsidies, into their member benefit offerings.

b. Reform state supervision policies. To remove barriers that prevent people from obtaining and maintaining full-time employment, it is necessary to reform state supervision policies. Curfews, mandatory check-ins during work hours, and costly program fees should be eliminated, as they inhibit people from working and perpetuate economic instability. These reforms would be implemented through state probation offices, prosecutors’ offices, and county correctional departments. States should additionally recognize employer reports to probation officers as potential retaliation, similar to how employer reports to ICE are treated when immigrant workers assert their rights. These reforms would reduce coercion, discipline, and interference with workers’ exercise of labor and employment rights.

c. Advance legislative reforms to ease employers’ path to hiring workers with records and workers’ ability to obtain full-time jobs. Reforms should expand fair-chance hiring protections (e.g. laws that delay background checks and require case-by-case review rather than blanket bans) and occupational licensing access, modernize negligent-hiring liability laws to reduce employers’ legal exposure when they hire people with records, and ensure that companies can obtain general liability and crime insurance even when hiring people with records. Policymakers should also strengthen record-sealing and expungement statutes to prevent old convictions from blocking job opportunities. When records are sealed or expunged, they are removed from public background checks, meaning employers cannot see them, and thus cannot use them to deny work.

Together, these measures would reduce key structural barriers that drive workers with records into the temp industry, opening pathways to permanent, high-quality employment.

02. Improve standards in the temp industry

a. Hold host employers and other private-sector stakeholders responsible for the conduct of temp agencies with which they do business. Temp agency clients already operate as joint employers and should share equal responsibility for the wages, benefits, and working conditions of temp workers. Because host employers direct temp workers’ daily labor, and their contracts largely determine what temp agencies can pay and provide, they play a central role in shaping worker conditions on the ground. Courts and regulatory agencies should presume joint employment and enforce equal responsibility for workplace standards, while temp workers and advocates should engage in strategic campaigns that push host employers to adopt high-road practices.

In addition, insurance companies that provide workers’ compensation coverage have a role to play. By taking steps to protect their own financial interest, such as preventing misclassification of temp workers and other forms of fraud, insurance carriers could go a long way to closing one of the major loopholes that act as a hidden subsidy for temp agencies.

b. Partner with unions on pathways to include temp workers in their own structures. Unions can take concrete steps to include and advocate for temp workers within their own structures by, for example, forming temp worker committees within locals; inviting temps to attend union meetings; negotiating contract provisions that automatically convert temp workers to direct hires after 60 days; monitoring shop-floor treatment of temps alongside union employees; and petitioning the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to accrete temp workers into existing bargaining units or form new ones.

c. Strengthen baseline workplace protections at the state and federal levels. To improve standards in the temp industry, state and federal laws should set the floor for wages, conditions, and organizing rights. In Florida, the state legislature should strengthen the Labor Pool Act, the only law explicitly protecting blue-collar temp workers in the state. That would give workers tools to challenge wage theft and unsafe conditions, as its weak standards and limited enforcement leave workers vulnerable to abuse. 

At the federal level, Congress should finally pass the Restoring Worker Power Act of 2020 to ensure that temp workers receive the same wages and benefits as permanent employees performing the same job under similar conditions (referred to in the act as “equal pay for equal work”), receive health and safety training, and curb exploitative practices like placement fees that trap workers in “permatemp” roles.

Both sets of standards should prevent anti-competitive practices by banning placement fees, non-compete clauses, and blacklisting practices that prevent temp workers from securing direct employment or moving among agencies. Enforcement of these bans is essential to restoring mobility and fairness in the labor market.

d. Reform the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC). Reforming the WOTC would further help redirect incentives away from low-road employers (e.g. companies that compete by minimizing labor costs such as paying low wages and cutting corners on health and safety) who churn workers for tax credits and toward companies that provide stable, high-quality jobs with fair wages and advancement opportunities. The program is long overdue for reform to curb abuse by temp agencies, tie eligibility to longer employment durations, and incorporate wage, job-quality, and transparency standards that prevent misuse.

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Confronting the economic and political power concentrated in the temp industry is essential to building a labor market rooted in fairness and democracy. Together, these suggested reforms would strengthen both the reentry ecosystem and the broader labor movement, ensuring that workers with records are not only included in but can lead efforts to transform the future of work in Florida and beyond. 

FootNotes

1. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ Survey of State Criminal History Information Systems, 2020, there were 114,282,600 criminal history records held in state repositories as of December 31, 2020. This figure does not include individuals with federal records, meaning the total number of people with a criminal record is higher. See: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Survey of State Criminal History Information Systems, 2020, Table 1. Available at: https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/bjs/grants/305602.pdf.
2. Prison Policy Initiative, “Florida Profile,” accessed October 31, 2025, https://www.prisonpolicy.org/profiles/FL.html.
3. Prison Policy Initiative, “Florida Profile.”
4. Noah Zatz, “The Carceral Labor Continuum,” Inquest, June 1, 2023, https://inquest.org/the-carceral-labor-continuum
5. Florida Department of Corrections, “Probation Services,” accessed November 3, 2025, https://www.fdc.myflorida.com/probation-services.
6. Clean Slate Initiative, “CSI Estimates: Florida,” Data Dashboard, accessed November 2, 2025, https://www.cleanslateinitiative.org/data.
7. Prison Policy Initiative, “Florida Profile.”
8. FDC, Bureau of Research and Data Analysis, “Florida County Detention Facilities Average Inmate Population, September 2025,” https://fdc-media.ccplatform.net/content/download/41969/file/2025_09%20September%20FCDF.pdf.
9. Bertram, Wanda & Jones, Alexi. “How many people in your state go to local jails every year?” Prison Policy Initiative, September 18, 2019. Available at: https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2019/09/18/state-jail-bookings/
10. FDC, “Probation Services.”
11. Miami-Dade County Corrections & Rehabilitation Department. Inmate Data Warehouse Dashboard – Statistics (English). Miami-Dade County. Available at: https://www.miamidade.gov/idwdashboard/statistics-en-us.pdf
12. Clean Slate Initiative, “CSI Estimates: Florida.”
13. Fla. Stat. § 448.22 (2024).
14. BLS, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, OEWS Research Estimates by State and Industry, May 2024, https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_research_estimates.htm. 
15. American Staffing Association, “Staffing Statistics by State,” 2023, https://americanstaffing.net/research/fact-sheets-analysis-staffing-industry-trends/staffing-statistics-by-state/ accessed August 18, 2025.
16. Beyond the Bars, field research conducted in South Florida, 2024.
17. Beyond the Bars, “Post-Release Employment Survey,” 2023.