APSCo has written a letter to Pat McFadden, minister for employment relations and postal services, complaining about an advertising campaign unveiled by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), depicting an "utterly miserable" temporary worker.
The association claims the Government's own statistics show this image to be untrue as fewer than one in five (19.9%) of the temporary workforce are unskilled and likely be paid close to minimum wage.
Ann Swain, chief executive of APSCo, said: "This campaign shows just how institutionalised stereotypes of temporary workers are in the Government. It fails to show the variety and diversity of temporary workers in the UK today.
"BERR needs to understand nearly half of all temporary workers are in professional, managerial or technical occupations and are often paid more than their permanent equivalents. It is vital this distinction is appreciated."
Government image of temps as miserable and exploited is far from the truth
The Government is promoting an "out-of-date stereotype" of temporary workers as poorly paid and exploited which is at odds with the reality of work, according to the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo).
