I know someone who works as a "permanent" temp at an Ivy League university. Her assignment has no end date, but the boss told her she'd never be hired because the university does not want to give her benefits. From what she tells me there is an entire underclass of white collar workers at the school, from project managers to graphic designers, who work as "temps" for years on end, deprived of health insurance, raises, or sick days.

If only there were some sort of "temporary" workers union, or some sort of fail-safe to help protect people like her, though I imagine if the government placed time limits on "temp" service forcing it to become "temp-to-perm," she'd simply be thrown back into the labor pool.