A bstract Young people have made up a significant proportion of temporary workers in the labour market for some time. However, during the 2008 recession and for some time after, many were compelled to undertake such contracts in the absence of stable alternatives. Young peoples' engagement with paid work is fundamental in helping them achieve biographical goals and ambitions, whether these are related to employment or personal interests. This paper presents qualitative data obtained through interviews with a number of young temporary workers in 2012 and demonstrates both how 'temping' is experienced and how such work impacts upon personal lives and aspirations for the future. Contributing to existing debates on changing youth transitions, it illustrates how engagement with temporary work can be enabling for those with short-term goals but conversely, disabling for those who seek the long-term commitments typically associated with reaching adulthood. More worryingly, it reveals how such work can trap young people in a meaningless 'perpetual present' of suspended adulthood, leading to feelings of powerlessness and pessimism about the future.