A staffing company works by taking all the hardship out of the equation for the potential employer. They handle all the headhunting, interviews, payroll, etc. The employer doesn't pay me, the staffing company does. The way it's supposed to work is after a certain period of time (6 months to a year in my experience) the employer actually hires you on as a true employee. In the last 5 years though that seems to have changed. By keeping you at arms length through the staffing firm the employer can get all the work they want out of you without having to cough up money for such trivial things as health insurance or retirement benefits. This you can imagine saves the employer a lot of money while keeping the employee screwed. Not only screwed but with my crazy schedule pretty much locked into the job. $10 for my $1 is pretty inconsequential when you figure in the tens of thousands their saving by shirking the potential benefits. It also means they can fire me anytime it's economically viable for literally zero reason. It's fubar.