The use of temporary agency labour in the care sector, however, has continued to be in decline.

Therefore when business starts to pick up organisations are likely to turn to temporary agency labour to pick up the extra workload.

As a result, firms are now turning increasingly to agency labour and the employment of unskilled (and occasionally illegal) immigrant workers.

This leads to a discussion of the characteristics of the agency labour force and of the nature of the occupation and regional labour markets in which they are found.