Those people who have fewer job opportunities are being helped to find work by private employment agencies (PrEAs), a new study claims.

According to research by consultancy company ECORYS for Dutch Eurociett member ABU, such organizations assist individuals in starting agency employment, which helps around 25 per cent of workers secure a permanent position.

The survey reveals around 700,000 workers enter the PrEA sector per year, with around one in four (25 per cent) from target groups such as older people, those with work disabilities, ethnic minorities and the long-term unemployed, with this share of the market rising sharply since 2000.

It is asserted by the report that many of these people would not be in jobs were it not for the work of agencies, a growing number of which are participating in mobility centers in the Netherlands to enhance opportunities for disadvantaged target groups.

Conditions for agency workers has been enhanced by the 1999 Flexibility and Security Act and the research indicates PrEAs can help in keeping people in jobs, although this aspect of the sector is reliant upon economic conditions.

Eurociett is the European Confederation of Private Employment Agencies and represents the common interests of such work within the EU.