RESEARCH PAPER SERIES, 2021–22   24 November 2021

Recent and long-term trends in the use of casual employment

Geoff Gilfillan

Statistics and Mapping

1 Executive summary

The use of casual employment increased substantially in Australia during the 1980s through to the mid-1990s before growing more moderately over the next two and a half decades.¹ The casual employee share of total employees remained relatively stable at around 25 per cent during the period between the mid-1990s and 2019 which indicates more balanced growth in both casual and permanent employment. This situation changed dramatically following the imposition of trading restrictions to limit the spread of COVID-19 in March 2020. The data shows casual employees were far more likely than permanent employees to lose their job following the lockdowns.

Despite strong growth in casual employment following the easing of restrictions in the middle of 2020, the number of casual employees had still not recovered to pre-COVID levels by May 2021. This situation has been exacerbated in the three months since by lockdowns imposed in New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT).

Part of the reason for greater job loss for casual employees was the restricted eligibility criteria for the JobKeeper Payment to workers that had been with their employer for 12 months or more. A much bigger percentage of casual workers had been with their current employer for less than 12 months compared with permanent employees. This group may have applied for the JobSeeker Payment or may have decided to leave the labour force when businesses closed. In contrast workers receiving the JobKeeper Payment would have maintained attachment to their employer and been recorded as employed in the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Labour Force survey. This outcome was compounded by casual workers being more likely to be employed in service industries whose activities were adversely affected by the shutdown such as Accommodation and food services, Retail trade and Arts and recreation services.

In terms of demographic trends, the casual share of total female employees has been gradually falling over the past thirty years—due in part to stronger growth in permanent part-time employment for women compared with growth in casual part-time employment. In contrast, the prevalence of male casual employment has been gradually increasing due to the combination of increasing casualisation of traditional industries in which men are more likely to work (such as Construction and Manufacturing) and increasing numbers of men working in service industries which are characterised by casual work.

Major longer term statistical findings

Full-time permanent employment—which is sometimes referred to as ‘standard’ employment—fell from a 70.4% share of total employment in August 1992 to 61.7% in August 2021. By comparison the permanent part-time employee share of total employment almost doubled from 8.2% in 1992 to 15.8% in 2021.

• In August 2021 there were just under 2.4 million casual employees working in Australia who accounted for 22.5% of all employees. The casual share was as high as 25.5% in both 2003 and 2004 and as low as 21.5% in August 1992.

• The casual share of total employees for females fell gradually from 30.4% in August 1992 to 26.0% in August 2019, and then fell further to 24.2% in 2021. In contrast the casual share of total male employees increased steadily from 14.0% in August 1992 to 22.5% in August 2019 but fell to 20.9% in August 2021.

• Job instability is much more prevalent among part-time casual workers. The data for August 2020 shows around 68.7% of casual part-time workers were not guaranteed a minimum number of hours per week, 43.8% per cent reported variable hours of work (i.e. they did not usually work the same number of hours each week) and 58.9% reported variable earnings in different pay periods.

• Female partners and dependent students together accounted for 43.9% of all casual employees in August 2020. While men in partnered relationships are less likely to be casual employees (12.5% of all male employees) they accounted for a sizeable share of all casual employees (18.7%).

• Together Retail trade, Accommodation and food services and Health care and social assistance accounted for just under a half (48.6%) of all casual employees in August 2020.

• Average earnings for all casual employees tend to be less than the average for all permanent employees, however, this is in part due to casual employees being more likely to be younger and less skilled than their permanent employee counterparts.

Impact of Covid-19

• The number of casual employees fell by 540,400 (or 20.6%) between February 2020 and May 2020. This compares with a fall of 215,300 permanent employees (or 2.6%).

• Despite growth in casual employment since May 2020 the level recorded in August 2021 was still 199,000 (or 7.6%) below the level recorded in February 2020. In contrast the number of permanent employees in August 2021 was 66,900 (or 0.8%) above the level of permanent employees recorded in February 2020.

• Casual employees accounted for 15.1% of all hours worked by employees in the economy in August 2021—down from 17.0% in February 2020 and 18.5% in November 2017.

• Hours worked by casual employees fell by 27.6% in the three months to May 2020 compared with the three months to February 2020. By comparison hours worked by permanent employees fell by 6.1%. And more recently, total hours worked by casual employees fell by 14.2% in the three months to August 2021 compared with the previous three months, whereas hours worked recorded by permanent employees fell by 3.1%.

Contents

Executive summary

Introduction

Definitions of different forms of employment

Composition of employment in Australia

Estimates for casual employment

Conclusion

2 Introduction

The Australian labour market and economy has undergone substantial structural and demographic change over the past 40 years, including the emergence and strong growth of a range of service industries and the relative decline in demand for labour among more traditional male-dominated industries such as Manufacturing and Agriculture. This change has driven employer demand for different occupational skills and more flexible forms of employment to produce the goods and services demanded by consumers.

The emergence of various non-standard forms of employment in Australia has provided opportunities for people to find work—particularly those on the margins of the labour market—but has also presented challenges in terms of providing less security of employment and variability in earnings, along with the lack of access to paid leave entitlements that many workers previously took for granted.

This paper examines trends in use of casual employment in Australia over the longer-term and following the lockdowns imposed in March 2020 to limit the spread of COVID-19. It also compares conditions of employment confronting casual workers compared with their permanent employee counterparts. A separate paper will be released on trends in the use of labour hire workers, employees on fixed-term contracts and independent contractors after new estimates for August 2021 are released in December 2021.

What has been driving change in more flexible forms of employment?

As part of Australia’s transition to a more service-based economy, there have been significant demographic developments, including very strong growth in the labour force participation of women and students—many of whom are seeking part-time hours of work. This shift in labour supply has stimulated strong growth in part-time permanent and part-time casual employment, and other forms of non-standard forms of employment.

Employers have been using more flexible employment options such as the use of part-time shift workers, independent contractors, labour hire employees and employees on fixed-term contracts to respond to peaks and troughs in demand.² Shifts in employer and employee preferences has contributed to a decline in the ‘standard’ or permanent full-time employee share of total employment. This trend reflects the changing demographic profile of the labour market—away from the typical single-income male breadwinner head of family households in the decades immediately following World War II—to a diverse range of household types including dual income earners, single parents, childless couples and single person households.

This demographic shift has contributed to a much more varied and diverse workforce. Younger people are more likely to be studying longer to gain post-secondary qualifications which has contributed to a bigger share of this group working part-time rather than full-time hours. Around 56.0% of people aged 15 to 24 years were engaged in full-time education in September 2021 which compares with 31.7% in September 1986.³ Furthermore, around 55.1% of employed people aged 15 to 24 years were working part-time hours in September 2021 compared with 20.9% in September 1986.⁴

Changing dynamics of the labour market has seen people shift between different forms of employment as their circumstances change over their life cycle. For example, most students successfully shift from casual part-time work while they are studying, to engaging in permanent full-time or permanent part-time work more closely aligned with the qualifications they have attained:

The 2019 Graduate Outcomes Survey-Longitudinal (GOS-L) shows that graduates do succeed over time with many more graduates in work three years after graduation. In 2016, 72.6 per cent of graduates were in full-time employment immediately upon graduation. Three years later in 2019, 90.1 per cent of the same cohort of graduates had found full-time work.⁵

The introduction of the universal Paid Parental Leave scheme (which became operational in January 2011⁶), subsidised childcare and a diverse range of flexible employment options over many decades has encouraged more women to enter and remain in the workforce. The labour force participation rate for women aged 25 to 40 years was noticeably lower than rates for women in younger and older age groups in the late 1970s as women had a greater tendency to exit the labour force to have and care for children. But the participation rate for women in this age group today is now very similar to those aged 20 to 24 years and only slightly below the rate recorded for those aged 40 to 50 years.⁷

Women are more likely to change the number of hours they work as they progress through the life cycle. Women tend to transition from part-time hours while studying to full-time hours immediately upon attaining educational qualifications. Women are more likely to seek less hours of work if they have children and become engaged in child caring responsibilities and then seek more hours as caring responsibilities diminish. In the final ten years of their working life women are more likely to seek less hours of work as they approach retirement. These social trends are reflected in different labour force participation rates of women over the life cycle.⁸

The greater availability of affordable childcare and paid parental leave has helped employment rates rise significantly over time for women in the major child-bearing and caring years. For example, the employment to population ratio for women aged 25 to 34 years has increased from 47% in June 1978 to just under 77% in June 2021.⁹

A more flexible labour market and the introduction of more flexible working arrangements by employers has facilitated much greater labour force participation of women than 20 or 30 years ago.¹⁰ Employers also benefit from being able to attract and retain employees by offering flexible working arrangements. Just over 72% of women aged 15 to 64 years were working in June 2021 which compares with just over 46% in June 1978. In contrast the employment to population ratio for men in this age group fell slightly from just over 82% to just over 79% in the same time interval.¹¹

Similarly, students are seeking to combine part-time work with their study commitments to support them financially. Just over 48% of full-time students aged 15 to 24 years were working in June 2021 which compares with 27% in June 1986.¹²

The concept of the standard employment relationship is generally understood to be:

… a situation where an employee has one employer; works in a permanent, year-round full-time position; enjoys extensive statutory benefits and entitlements; and expects to be employed indefinitely. Any work arrangement that differs from this definition is referred to as “non-standard” (also known as “atypical employment”).¹³

The Centre for Future of Work have highlighted the decline in standard employment as a share of total employment in a report on insecure work. The authors consider this trend has eroded the quality and stability of employment more generally.

The security of work has been “chipped away” on many sides by several distinct but reinforcing trends in Australia’s labour market. Together, these trends have caused a multidimensional erosion in the quality and stability of employment.

… their combined impact is visible in the shrinking proportion of workers who are employed within a traditional “standard” employment relationship: namely, a permanent paid job with normal entitlements (to paid leave, superannuation, and other standard employment-related benefits).¹⁴

The researchers included increasing part-time employment as one of the drivers of insecure work along with increasing casualisation and growth in self-employment. However, growth in part-time employment has facilitated greater labour force participation of women and young people that are studying. It is unlikely that the old world of predominantly full-time permanent or ‘standard’ employment would be compatible with the circumstances, preferences and requirements of these groups. Later in this paper I draw attention to the strong growth in the permanent part-time employee share of total employees over the past three decades which has offset the decline in the permanent full-time employee share. This helps explain the relatively stable casual and permanent shares of total employees for much of this period.

Different forms of employment—often described as non-standard employment—have emerged as hiring options for employers such as employees without paid leave entitlements (or casual employees), labour hire workers, employees on short-term contracts, and independent contractors.

These forms of employment allow employers to adjust their labour requirements to their level of operating capacity but also provide opportunities for people seeking a foot hold in the labour market. However, the emergence of these forms of employment have contributed to less job stability and security for some workers if they become trapped in less secure employment.

This trend has shifted the burden of responsibility for providing appropriate pay and conditions for employees away from host employers¹⁵ to either a separate organisation (that is, labour hire firms and employment agencies) or individuals (independent contractors) with potentially negative impacts on the provision of training¹⁶ and the health and safety for workers.¹⁷

3 Definitions of different forms of employment

The responsibility of employers for providing entitlements to workers can vary depending on whether the employer directly engages the worker as a permanent or casual employee. Permanent employees have access to paid leave entitlements whereas casual workers do not.

Casual workers may be engaged for a short period of time or they may continue to work for the employer for longer periods of time. Some casual workers may have regular systematic hours of work per week whereas others have more irregular hours. Employers can also engage workers on a fixed-term contract, or as an ongoing employee. Employers also have options to recruit workers from a labour hire firm or employment agency (which accepts the responsibility for the working conditions and payment of on-hired workers) or they may engage the services of independent contractors (who don’t have employee entitlements). The following box shows definitions of different forms of employment used by employers in the economy.

Box 1: definitions of different forms of employment

• Employees with access to paid leave entitlements (such as sickness and holiday pay and other forms of personal leave)—also known as permanent employees—who generally have an expectation of regular ongoing employment with their current employer until the employer or employee ends the employment relationship.

• Employees without access to paid leave entitlements—also known as casual employees—who are usually paid an additional hourly payment or leave loading (usually between 15 and 25 per cent) as compensation. Casual employees may be engaged for a fixed period or may continue to work with the same employer for a longer period depending upon the availability of work.

• Labour hire employees are workers who found their current job through a labour hire firm or employment agency and are paid by the firm or agency. Labour hire firms and agencies undertake the screening, selection and placement of people for organisations and engage in the supply of their own employees to host employers for a specified period at a contracted price. Both the host employer and the labour hire firm have responsibility for the occupational health and safety of labour hire workers.

• Independent contractors are persons who operate their own business and are contracted to perform services for others without having the legal status of an employee. They are persons who are engaged by a client, rather than an employer to undertake the work. Independent contractors are engaged under a contract for services (a commercial contract), whereas employees are engaged under a contract of service (an employment contract).

• An employee on a fixed-term contract is engaged for a specified period that ceases on a particular date or event. Full-time or part-time fixed term employees are generally entitled to the same wages, penalties and leave as permanent employees.

Permanent and casual employees working full-time or part-time hours are entitled to superannuation contributions if they meet certain eligibility requirements. Under the superannuation guarantee, employers have to pay superannuation contributions of 10% of an employee's ordinary time earnings when an employee is paid $450 or more before tax in a month and is either over 18 years or under 18 years and works over 30 hours a week.¹⁸

4 Composition of employment in Australia

Table 1 shows the composition of total employment in Australia in August 2020. Total employment includes employees and business owners that are also classified by the ABS as owner managers of incorporated and unincorporated enterprises. Full-time permanent employment accounted for 50.7% of total employment and 61.1% of all employees. The table also shows the shares of total employment in Australia accounted for by flexible forms of employment such as casual employees (18.2% of total employment), part-time permanent employees (14.1%), employees on fixed-term contracts (3.3%) and labour hire employees (0.9%).

It should be noted that employees on fixed-term contracts and labour hire employees are shown in the table as sub-categories of employees rather than separate independent employment types. Business owners accounted for 16.9% of total employment, composed of independent contractors (8.1%) and other business owners (8.8%).

Table 1: composition of total employment in Australia, August 2020

Employment type

Number

% share of total employment

Employees

Permanent full-time employees

6,369,500

50.7

Permanent part-time employees

1,776,600

14.1

Casual full-time employees

671,700

5.3

Casual part-time employees

1,609,900

12.8

Total permanent employees

8,146,100

64.9

Total casual employees

2,281,600

18.2

Total full-time employees

7,041,200

56.1

Total part-time employees

3,385,000

27.0

Total employees

10,427,700

83.1

Sub-categories of employees

Employees on fixed-term contracts

413.1

3.3

Labour hire employees

112.6

0.9

Business owners

Independent contractors

1,022,700

8.1

Other business owners

1,105,000

8.8

Total business owners

2,127,700

16.9

TOTAL EMPLOYMENT

12,555,400

100.0

Source: ABS, Characteristics of Employment, Australia, ABS, Canberra, December 20202, various tables and TableBuilder (original data).

Historical data is available for the full-time permanent employee share of total employees since 1992 which has been taken from two different ABS data sources. Data earlier than 1992 is problematic due to the inclusion of business owners (also known as owner managers of incorporated and unincorporated enterprises) in employee and employment estimates.

The data that is available shows a slow steady decline in the ‘standard’ employment share of total employees from 70.4% in 1992 to 59.8% in both 2016 and 2017, before increasing slightly to 61.7% in 2021 (see Chart 1). The increase in the standard employment share of total employees in the 18 months to August 2021 was due more to the pronounced shedding of casual employees following the introduction of trading restrictions to combat the spread of COVID-19 rather than strong growth in permanent full-time employment.

Chart 1: full-time permanent employee or ‘standard’ employee share of total employees, 1992–2021

Sources: 1992 to 2003—ABS, Australian Labour Market Statistics, ABS, Canberra, various years, Table 1; 2004 to 2020—ABS, Characteristics of Employment, Australia, ABS, Canberra, December 2020, Table 1c.3; 2021—ABS, Labour Force, detailed, ABS, Canberra, October 2021, Datacube EQ04 (original data).

The Melbourne Institute analysed Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey data to gauge the extent of standard and non-standard employment in Australia and found approximately 59% of female employees were engaged in non-standard employment in 2017 compared with one third of men. These estimates are slightly higher than the non-standard employment shares recorded in 2001. The researchers also found the share of non-standard employment among those aged 15 to 24 years increased by eight percentage points from 68% in 2001 to 76% in 2017, making younger workers the age group with the highest non-standard employment share of total employment.¹⁹

Trends in the composition of employees in Australia are shown in Table 2 and Chart 3. The most significant change, apart from the decline in the full-time permanent employee share, is the increase in the permanent part-time employee share from 8.2% in August 1992 to 15.8% in August 2021. In comparison the casual full-time and part-time employee shares have been much more stable.

Table 2: trends in the composition of total employees by selected years, 1992–2021

Permanent full-time %

Permanent part-time %

Casual full-time %

Casual part-time %

Total employees %

1992

70.4

8.2

5.3

16.2

100.0

1995

68.4

8.9

6.6

16.1

100.0

2000

64.5

10.2

8.2

17.0

100.0

2005

63.3

12.5

7.0

17.2

100.0

2010

62.1

13.7

7.4

16.8

100.0

2015

60.8

14.9

7.1

17.1

100.0

2020

61.1

17.0

6.4

15.4

100.0

2021

61.7

15.8

7.6

15.0

100.0

Sources: 1992 to 2003—ABS, Australian Labour Market Statistics, ABS, Canberra, various years, Table 1; 2004 to 2020—ABS, Characteristics of Employment, Australia, ABS, Canberra, December 2020, Table 1c.3; 2021—ABS, Labour Force, detailed, ABS, Canberra, October 2021, Datacube EQ04 (original data).

Chart 2: trends in the number of casual and permanent employees, 1992–2021

Sources: 2004 to 2020—ABS, Characteristics of Employment, ABS, Canberra, December 2020, Table 1c.3; 2021—ABS, Labour Force, detailed, ABS, Canberra, October 2021, Datacube EQ04 (original data).

5 Estimates for casual employment

Annual estimates

In August 2021 there were just over 2.4 million casual employees working in Australia who accounted for 22.5% of all employees.

Chart 3 shows long-term trends in the casual share of total employees in Australia from August 1992 to August 2021. Prior to 1992 estimates for employees with and without paid leave entitlements included owner managers of incorporated and unincorporated enterprises (or business owners) who may have reported that they were employees of their own company. Data available from 1992 enables the separation of employees from business owners.

Chart 3: casual employee share of total employees, 1992–2021

Sources: 1992 to 2003—ABS, Australian Labour Market Statistics, ABS, Canberra, various years, Table 1; 2004 to 2020—ABS, Characteristics of Employment, Australia, ABS, Canberra, December 2020, Table 1c.3; 2021—ABS, Labour Force, detailed, ABS, Canberra, October 2021, Datacube EQ04 (original data).

The casual share of total employees increased steadily from 21.5% in August 1992 to 25.5% in both 2003 and 2004 and then hovered between 23% and 25% until 2019. The casual share fell sharply to 21.9% in August 2020 due to the disproportionate impact on casual workers of business trading restrictions put in place to limit the spread of COVID-19—before recovering slightly to 22.5% in August 2021, as more businesses that used casual employees reopened.²⁰

The casual share of total female employees was stable at around 30% in the decade between the early 1990s and early 2000s. The casual share for females has been gradually falling since. Part of the reason for this trend is the strong growth in female permanent part-time employment—up from 424,000 in 1992 to just over 1.1 million in 2013 (an increase of 728,000 or 172%), compared with growth in female casual part-time employment—up from 713,000 in 1992 to just over 1.0 million in 2013 (an increase of 311,000 or 44%).²¹

The casual share of total female employees fell to 23.5% in 2020 due to trading restrictions imposed to limit the spread of COVID-19. The casual share has since risen to 24.2% in August 2021 as casual workers were hired after business reopened. However, this result masks the shedding of casual workers observed in the three months to August 2021 resulting from lockdowns imposed in New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT.

Chart 4: casual employee share of total employees by gender, 1992–2021

Sources: 1992 to 2003—ABS, Australian Labour Market Statistics, ABS, Canberra, various years, Table 1; 2004 to 2020—ABS, Characteristics of Employment, Australia, ABS, Canberra, December 2020, Table 1c.3; 2021—ABS, Labour Force, detailed, ABS, Canberra, October 2021, Datacube EQ04 (original data).

The casual share of total male employees increased steadily from 14.0% in 1992 to a peak of 23.3% in 2016 due to stronger growth in male casual employment compared with permanent employment. For example, the number of male casual employees more than doubled from 463,000 in 1992 to just under 1.2 million in 2016, while the number of male permanent employees increased from 2.8 million to 3.9 million (an increase of just over 1 million or 37%).²² The male casual employee share fell to 20.2% in 2020—also the result of the shedding of casual jobs by employers affected by trading restrictions due to COVID-19 lockdowns—but has increased slightly since to 20.9%.

Quarterly estimates

The ABS also provides more regular quarterly estimates of employees with and without paid leave entitlements since August 2014 which shows a big drop in the casual share of total employees from 24.1% in February 2020 to 20.6% in May 2020. This was followed by a recovery to 23.6% in May 2021 before falling again to 22.5% in August 2021 (see Chart 5). There were 2.4 million casual workers in Australia in August 2021 of whom 816,400 were working full time and 1,609,200 were working part-time.

Chart 5: casual employee share of total employees, 2014–2021

Source: ABS, Labour Force, detailed, ABS, Canberra, October 2021, Table 13 (original data).

The fall in the number of casual employees between February and May 2020 was much more pronounced than the fall in the number of permanent employees. Part of the reason for this is permanent employees were much more likely than casual employees to get access to the JobKeeper Payment implemented by the Australian Government.

Non-casual employees that worked full-time or part-time were eligible for the JobKeeper Payment, regardless of the length of time they had been with their current employer. But only long-term casual employees—those that had been with their employer for 12 months or more and had been engaged by their employer on a regular and systematic basis during the previous 12-months—were eligible.²³ Just under 60% of casual workers had been with their current employer for more than 12 months in August 2019 compared with 83.8% of permanent workers.²⁴

Those stood down from their positions as a result of the early COVID-19 restrictions and were eligible for JobKeeper Payment would have reported themselves as being employed and working zero hours in the ABS Labour Force Survey. The level of unemployment and the unemployment rate would have been much higher if these workers were unable to access the payment. In contrast casual employees that had been with their employer for less than 12 months would not have been entitled to the JobKeeper Payment and would have been recorded as unemployed or not in the labour force if they became discouraged from looking for work.

Table 3 shows the number of casual employees fell by 540,400 (or 20.6%) between February and May 2020. This compares with a fall of 215,300 permanent employees (or 2.6%). While the number of casual employees has recovered since, the level recorded in August 2021 was still 199,000 (or 7.6%) below the level recorded in February 2020. In contrast the number of permanent employees in August 2021 was 66,900 (or 0.8%) higher than the level of permanent employees recorded in February 2020.

Table 3: change in the number of permanent and casual employees, February 2020–August 2021

Perm total (‘000)

Perm full-time (‘000)

Perm part-time (‘000)

Casual total (‘000)

Casual full-time (‘000)

Casual part-time (‘000)

Total (‘000)

Feb 20

8,267.7

6,657.8

1,609.9

2,624.7

880.6

1,744.1

10,892.4

May 20

8,052.4

6,470.4

1,582.1

2,084.3

695.4

1,389.0

10,136.8

May 21

8,402.7

6,719.1

1,683.6

2,600.1

808.6

1,791.6

11,002.8

Aug 21

8,334.6

6,634.9

1,699.7

2,425.7

816.4

1,609.2

10,760.3

Feb 20 to May 20

-215.3

-187.4

-27.9

-540.4

-185.2

-355.2

-755.6

May 20 to May 21

350.2

248.7

101.6

515.8

113.2

402.6

866.0

May 21 to Aug 21

-68.0

-84.1

16.1

-174.5

7.9

-182.3

-242.5

Feb 20 to Aug 21

66.9

-22.8

89.8

-199.0

-64.1

-134.9

-132.1

Source: ABS, Labour Force, detailed, ABS, Canberra, October 2021, Table 13 (original data).

Both full-time and part-time casuals were affected by lockdowns in the 18 months to August 2021. Full-time casual employment fell by 9.0% for males and by 4.1% for females between February 2020 and August 2021. Part-time casual employment fell by 7.9% for males and by 7.6% for females.

During the same period permanent part-time employment for males and females rose by 15.9% and 3.0% respectively. Full-time permanent employment fell marginally for both men and women (down 0.5% and 0.1% respectively).

Table 4: change in permanent and casual employees by sex, 2020–2021

Type of employee

Feb 20

May 20

May 21

Aug 21

Change—Feb 20 to Aug 2021

‘000

‘000

‘000

‘000

‘000

%

Male

Full-time permanent

3,929.9

3,835.0

3,957.9

3,908.9

-21.0

-0.5

Full-time casual

572.0

471.3

492.7

520.4

-51.6

-9.0

Total full-time

4,501.9

4,306.3

4,450.6

4,429.3

-72.5

-1.6

Part-time permanent

316.1

312.6

369.3

366.4

50.3

15.9

Part-time casual

661.0

528.0

685.9

608.8

-52.2

-7.9

Total part-time

977.1

840.6

1,055.2

975.3

-1.9

-0.2

Female

Full-time permanent

2,727.9

2,635.4

2,761.1

2,726.0

-1.9

-0.1

Full-time casual

308.5

224.1

315.9

296.0

-12.6

-4.1

Total full-time

3,036.5

2,859.5

3,077.0

3,022.0

-14.4

-0.5

Part-time permanent

1,293.8

1,269.5

1,314.3

1,333.3

39.5

3.0

Part-time casual

1,083.1

861.0

1,105.7

1,000.4

-82.7

-7.6

Total part-time

2,376.9

2,130.5

2,420.0

2,333.7

-43.2

-1.8

Source: ABS, Labour Force, detailed, ABS, Canberra, October 2021, Datacube EQ04 (original data).

Casual share of total hours worked

Casual workers account for a much smaller share of total hours worked compared to their share of total employees. This is due to casual workers being much more likely to work part-time hours than permanent employees (66.3% compared with 20.4% in August 2021) and the greater likelihood of experiencing variable hours from week to week (discussed in the next section).²⁵

Casual employees accounted for 15.1% of all hours worked by employees in the economy in August 2021 which compares with their 22.5% share of all employees. At the outset of the pandemic in Australia, the casual share of total hours worked by employees fell substantially from 17.0% in February 2020 to 13.6% in May 2020.

Chart 6: casual share of total hours worked by employees, 2014–2021

Source: ABS, Labour Force, detailed, ABS, Canberra, October 2021, Table 13 (original data).

Chart 7 shows casual employees were much more adversely affected in terms of the change in total hours worked in all jobs between February 2020 and August 2021 (using an index starting base of 100.0 in February 2020).

Chart 7: change in total hours worked by employees, February 2020—August 2021

Source: ABS, Labour Force, detailed, ABS, Canberra, October 2021, Table 13 (original data).

Hours worked by casual employees fell by 27.6% in the three months to May 2020 compared with the three months to February 2020. By comparison hours worked by permanent employees fell by 6.1%. And more recently, total hours worked by casual employees fell by 14.2% in the three months to August 2021 compared with the previous three months, whereas hours worked by permanent employees fell by 3.1%.

Extent of job insecurity and instability for casual employees

ABS data has been used to determine the degree of job security associated with different forms of employment. A number of indicators can inform whether some forms of employment are more precarious than others in terms of perceptions by employees about the likelihood of job change or job loss in the future. The data also sheds light on forms of employment that may be less reliable in terms of providing regular and sufficient hours of work and earnings.

Over a third (36.3%) of casual employees had been with their current employer or business for less than 12 months in August 2020 (which would have precluded them from entitlement to access to the JobKeeper Payment).²⁶ Casual workers are much more likely to experience variable earnings and hours of work than permanent employees. And in terms of job security casual workers are more than twice as likely to expect to not be with their current employer in 12 months (15.8% compared with 7.5%). However, it should be noted that the expectation that workers won’t be with their current employer in 12 months is not necessarily due to perceived job loss. Some workers may regard their current employment as temporary and could expect to move to a different job with a different employer through personal choice.

Chart 8: job security and stability for permanent and casual employees, August 2020

Source: ABS, Characteristics of Employment, Australia, ABS, Canberra, using TableBuilder.

Job instability is much more prevalent among part-time casual workers. The data for August 2020 shows 68.7% of casual part-time workers were not guaranteed a minimum number of hours per week compared with only 8.3% of permanent employees. Around 43.8% per cent of casual workers reported variable hours of work (i.e. they did not usually work the same number of hours each week) and 58.9% reported variable earnings in different pay periods.²⁷

Chart 9: job security and stability among full-time and part-time workers, August 2020

Source: ABS, Characteristics of Employment, Australia, ABS, Canberra, using TableBuilder.

Uncertainty about future earnings may present difficulties to individuals and households in paying bills, paying rent and servicing debt requirements associated with taking out loans. Understandably, financial institutions need to screen whether individuals are in a secure financial position to service future loan repayments. Financial institutions usually require a casual employee to have been in their current job for 12 months or more as one of the eligibility criteria for granting a loan while others may require evidence of regular hours for three months or more.²⁸

Part-time casual and part-time permanent employees were more likely to be seeking more hours of work and were available for more hours within four weeks of the survey being conducted (at 34.4% and 19.3% respectively) in August 2020.²⁹

Interestingly, 14.7% of full-time casual employees were seeking more hours of work even though they were already working full-time hours. This outcome may possibly be related to the low rate of remuneration they received in their current job. Casual workers are more likely to have a shorter tenure with their current employer than permanent employees. Around 36.3% of casual employees in August 2020 had been with their current employer for 12 months or less compared with 13.3% of permanent employees.³⁰

Wage outcomes for permanent and casual employees

There is a growing disparity between median hourly earnings of permanent and casual workers. In August 2020 permanent employees had a median hourly wage rate of $38.60 which compared with a median of $28.50 per hour for casual employees—a gap of just over $10 per hour. This compares with a gap of just over $4 per hour recorded in August 2004 (see Table 5). The gap between permanent full-time workers and casual full-time workers was $9.47 per hour in August 2020 while the gap between permanent part-time workers and casual part-time workers was $7.09. The median hourly earnings gap for full-time workers in favour of permanent employees was only $3.20 in 2004 while the gap in favour of permanent part-time workers was $3.23.³¹

Table 5: weighted³² median hourly earnings for permanent and casual employees, August 2004–August 2020

August

Perm full-time ($ per hour)

Casual full-time ($ per hour)

Perm part-time ($ per hour)

Casual part-time ($ per hour)

Perm total ($ per hour)

Casual total ($ per hour)

Median wage gap total ($ per hour)

2004

20.44

17.24

18.23

15.00

20.00

15.92

4.08

2010

26.76

22.19

23.33

20.00

26.29

20.00

6.29

2011

28.00

22.50

24.00

20.00

27.08

20.40

6.68

2012

29.07

23.68

25.00

20.31

28.26

21.25

7.01

2013

29.53

24.11

25.00

20.80

28.57

21.80

6.77

2014

31.95

25.00

26.84

22.00

31.25

23.00

8.25

2015

32.00

25.00

28.00

22.22

31.25

23.33

7.92

2016

32.89

26.00

28.13

23.17

31.87

24.00

7.87

2017

34.04

26.23

29.00

24.00

32.89

25.00

7.89

2018

35.46

28.48

29.82

25.00

34.06

25.29

8.77

2019

36.84

28.57

31.31

25.00

35.51

26.32

9.19

2020

39.47

30.00

35.02

27.93

38.56

28.47

10.09

Source: ABS, Characteristics of Employment, Australia, ABS, Canberra, December 2020, Table 1c.2.

These wage outcomes are directly related to the skill composition and the age of permanent and casual employees. Casual workers are much more likely to be less skilled, younger and less experienced than their permanent employee counterparts. For example, around 40.1% of casual workers were aged 15 to 24 years in August 2020 compared with only a 9.7% share of permanent employees. Further, casual employees accounted for 53.7% of all employees aged 15 to 24 years compared with 15.3% and 16.0% shares respectively for those aged 25 to 44 years and those aged 45 years plus.³³ Only 15.1% of casual workers were classified as managers or professionals in August 2020 which compares with 43.8% of permanent employees. In contrast sales workers, machinery operators, drivers and labourers accounted for 46.8% of casual workers but only 17.9% of permanent employees.³⁴

Table 6: permanent and casual employees by age, August 2020

Age

Permanent employees

Casual employees

Total employees

‘000

Share of total (%)

‘000

Share of total (%)

‘000

Casual prevalence (%)

15 to 24 years

787.2

9.7

914.6

40.1

1,702.3

53.7

25 to 44 years

4157

51.0

753.1

33.0

4,911.1

15.3

45 years plus

3,204.8

39.3

611.7

26.8

3817

16.0

TOTAL

8,145.6

100.0

2,283.1

100.0

10,428.2

21.9

Source: ABS, Characteristics of Employment, Australia, ABS, Canberra, using TableBuilder.

Table 7: permanent and casual employees by occupation, August 2020

Occupation category

Permanent employees

Casual employees

Total employees

‘000

Share of total (%)

‘000

Share of total (%)

‘000

Casual prevalence (%)

Managers

1,040.0

12.8

73.1

3.2

1,116.1

6.5

Professionals

2,531.4

31.1

271.8

11.9

2,804.7

9.7

Technicians & Trades Workers

1,082.1

13.3

202.9

8.9

1,284.5

15.8

Community & Personal Service Workers

707.7

8.7

443.1

19.4

1,151.8

38.5

Clerical & Admin Workers

1,327.9

16.3

217.7

9.5

1,547.1

14.1

Sales Workers

492.0

6.0

407.4

17.8

900.4

45.2

Machinery Operators & Drivers

466.5

5.7

193.6

8.5

661.1

29.3

Labourers

497.4

6.1

467.6

20.5

966.5

48.4

TOTAL

8,145.6

100.0

2,283.1

100.0

10,428.2

21.9

Source: ABS, Characteristics of Employment, Australia, ABS, Canberra, using TableBuilder.

Wage rates for more highly skilled employees are growing at a faster rate than wages for unskilled workers. The median hourly wage rate of permanent employees in August 2020 was almost double the rate paid in August 2004 (up 92.8%) whereas the median hourly wage rate for casual employees increased by 78.8%.³⁵

Occupational analysis of wage data shows very little difference in median hourly earnings of professionals that were working on a permanent or casual basis in August 2020 but significant differences were revealed for managers working as permanent or casual employees (see Table 8). Other occupational categories showed higher median hourly earnings recorded for permanent employees compared with their casual employee counterparts (see Table 8). These wage differentials exist despite the availability of loadings on top of hourly wage rates—usually set at between 25% and 30%—to compensate casual employees for the lack of access to paid leave entitlements.³⁶

Table 8: weighted³⁷ median hourly earnings ($) for permanent and casual employees by occupation and full-time/part-time status, August 2020

Occupation category

Permanent employees

Casual employees

Full-time

Part-time

Total

Full-time

Part-time

Total

Managers

53.00

44.70

51.00

36.00

31.00

34.00

Professionals

49.00

50.00

50.00

50.00

50.00

49.70

Technicians & trades workers

35.00

30.00

34.00

32.00

30.00

30.00

Community & personal service workers

33.00

30.50

32.00

29.00

29.00

29.00

Clerical & administrative workers

34.00

35.00

35.00

30.90

30.40

30.00

Sales workers

30.00

26.00

28.00

23.00

25.00

25.00

Machinery operators & drivers

32.00

30.00

31.00

30.00

27.00

29.00

Labourers

28.00

26.00

28.00

26.00

25.00

25.00

All occupations

39.00

35.00

39.00

30.00

28.00

28.00

Note: many of the median hourly earnings estimates by occupation and employee type in the table have been rounded to the nearest dollar.

Source: ABS, Characteristics of Employment, Australia, ABS, Canberra, using TableBuilder.

Impact of employment type on wage outcomes

Mooi-Reci and Wooden examined longitudinal data from the Household and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey for the period between 2001 and 2014 to see if there were any long-term impact on earnings from engagement in casual employment. The researchers found males are more likely to experience a wage penalty from engagement in casual employment, particularly male workers that experience casual employment later in their working career.

The researchers found:

... casual employment has a much stronger negative association with the long-run earnings prospects of men than of women. Indeed, among women the average wage penalty associated with casual employment is less than half the size of that for men

…

wage differentials are relatively persistent for men who experience casual employment later in their working life, and especially when entering what is widely thought of as the prime-age employment years. Indeed, the wage gap grows for male workers in this age group. In contrast, for younger male workers (under 35 years of age) these wage gaps shrink with experience, and by the end of our 11-year observation period have largely disappeared.³⁸

Characteristics of casual employees

Table 9 shows the casual share of all employees in each industry in August 2020 and the industry share of all casual employees.

Together Retail trade, Accommodation and food services and Health care and social assistance accounted for just under a half (48.6%) of all casual employees in August 2020.

Accommodation and food services had the highest casual prevalence rate³⁹ (at just under 60%), followed by Agriculture, forestry and fishing (46.6%), Retail trade (37.6%), Arts and recreation services (36.9%) and Administrative and support services (35.8%).⁴⁰

Table 9: casual employees by industry, August 2020

Industry

Casual employees (‘000)

Total employees (‘000)

Casual prevalence in industry (%)

Share of all casual employees in all industries (%)

Share of all employees in all industries (%)

Agriculture, forestry & fishing

73.7

158.1

46.6

3.2

1.5

Mining

39.9

246.1

16.2

1.7

2.4

Manufacturing

116.4

737.4

15.8

5.1

7.1

Electricity, gas, water & waste services

12.8

138.3

9.3

0.6

1.3

Construction

149

744.9

20.0

6.5

7.1

Wholesale trade

50.8

346.5

14.7

2.2

3.3

Retail trade

397.1

1,055.5

37.6

17.4

10.1

Accommodation & food services

401.8

670.4

59.9

17.6

6.4

Transport, postal & warehousing

114

488.5

23.3

5.0

4.7

Information, media & telecommunications

18.9

155.8

12.1

0.8

1.5

Financial & insurance services

28.5

436.6

6.5

1.2

4.2

Rental, hiring & real estate services

23.2

162.5

14.3

1.0

1.6

Professional, scientific & technical services

92

828.3

11.1

4.0

7.9

Administrative & support services

102.1

284.8

35.8

4.5

2.7

Public administration & safety

68.3

838.2

8.1

3.0

8.0

Education & training

158.8

1,041.7

15.2

7.0

10.0

Health care & social assistance

311

1,622.9

19.2

13.6

15.6

Arts & recreation services

59.3

160.8

36.9

2.6

1.5

Other services

69.6

304.6

22.8

3.0

2.9

All industries

2,283.1

10,428.2

21.9

100.0

100.0

Source: ABS, Characteristics of Employment, Australia, ABS, Canberra, using TableBuilder.

Table 10 reveals how people in different relationship categories were employed in August 2020.

Table 10: casual and permanent employees by relationship in household, August 2020

Relationship in household

Sex

Casual employees (‘000)

Share of all casual employees (%)

Casual prevalence (%)

Permanent employees (‘000)

Share of all permanent employees (%)

Husband, wife or partner

Males

421.4

18.7

12.5

2,943.6

36.3

Females

529.8

23.6

16.8

2,616.3

32.3

Total

951.6

42.3

14.6

5,558.8

68.6

Lone parent

Males

11.9

0.5

13.6

75.3

0.9

Females

69.7

3.1

19.7

284.9

3.5

Total

81.6

3.6

18.5

358.9

4.4

Dependent student

Males

196.6

8.7

80.5

47.5

0.6

Females

256.7

11.4

82.6

54.1

0.7

Total

455.9

20.3

81.4

104

1.3

Non-dependent child

Males

205.5

9.1

29.7

487.2

6.0

Females

167.7

7.5

32.2

353.2

4.4

Total

372.7

16.6

30.7

841.6

10.4

Other family person

Males

55.8

2.5

40.3

82.6

1.0

Females

34.8

1.5

31.1

77

1.0

Total

89

4.0

35.6

160.7

2.0

Non-family member or person living alone

Males

160.7

7.1

23.3

529.4

6.5

Females

137.7

6.1

20.1

547.4

6.8

Total

297.8

13.2

21.7

1,075.3

13.3

Total (excluding relationship not determined)

Males

1,051.9

46.8

20.2

4,165.6

51.4

Females

1,196.4

53.2

23.5

3,932.9

48.6

Total

2,248.6

100.0

21.9

8,099.3

100.0

Note: some disaggregated estimates may not add to 100.0% due to rounding.

Source: ABS, Characteristics of Employment, Australia, ABS, Canberra, using TableBuilder (original data).

People in partnered relationships and lone parents are much less likely to be casual employees than dependent and non-dependent children and people living alone. Around 81.4% of employed dependent children and 30.7% of employed non-dependent children were casual employees. By comparison only 14.6% of employed people in partnered relationships were casual workers along with 18.5% of employed lone parents. Partnered people accounted for 68.6% of all permanent employees and 42.3% of all casual employees. Female partners and dependent students together accounted for 43.9% of all casual employees in August 2020.⁴¹

6 Conclusion

Over the longer term the casual share of total female employees has been falling whereas the prevalence of male casual employment has been increasing.

The casual share of total employees remained quite stable in Australia between the mid-1990s and 2019. However, the casual share dipped significantly between February 2020 and May 2020 due to the relatively larger fall in casual employment following trading restrictions imposed to limit the spread of COVID-19. After recovering in the following 12 months, the casual share dipped again in the three months to August 2021 following trading restrictions imposed in New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT.

Casual employees tend to have much less job stability than permanent employees with less certainty about regularity of hours of work and earnings from week to week.

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Notes

[←1]

.    G Gilfillan, Characteristics and use of casual employees in Australia, Research paper series, 2017–18, Parliamentary Library, Canberra, 19 January 2018, pp. 3–6.

[←2]

.    Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Submission to Senate Selection Committee Inquiry into Job Security, March 2021 (Submission 71) pp. 8-12.

[←3]

.    ABS, Labour Force, Australia, Table 15.

[←4]

.    ABS, Labour Force, detailed, Table 01.

[←5]

.    Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching (QILT), 2019 Graduate Outcomes Survey, QILT, October 2019, p. 4.

[←6]

.    L Buckmaster, ‘Comparing the Paid Parental Leave schemes’, Briefing book: key issues for the 44th Parliament, Parliamentary Library, Canberra, 2013.

[←7]

.    D Warren, L Qu and J Baxter, Families Then & Now: How we worked, Australian Institute of Family Studies, August 2020, p. 3.

[←8]

.    G Gilfillan and L Andrews, Labour Force Participation of Women Over 45, December 2010.

[←9]

.    Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Labour Force, Australia, Detailed, ABS, Canberra, October 2021, Table 1.

[←10]

.    Flexible working arrangements include flexible start and finish times, an agreement to work regular part-time hours of work, job sharing. swapping shifts with other workers and working from home.

[←11]

.    ABS, Labour Force, Australia, ABS, Canberra, October 2021, Table 1 (seasonally adjusted).

[←12]

.    Ibid., Table 15 (original data).

[←13]

.    M Girad, ‘Effects of Non-Standard Work on the Work-Family Balance: A Literature Review’, McGill Sociological Review, 1, January 2010, p. 48.

[←14]

.    Dr. T. Carney and Dr. J. Stanford, The Dimensions of Insecure Work: A Factbook, The Australia Institute, Centre for Future of Work, May 2018, p. 17.

[←15]

.    A host employer is the employer who owns, manages, or controls the property or worksite.

[←16]

.    G Gilfillan, Characteristics and use of casual employees, Research paper series, 2017–18, Parliamentary Library, Canberra, January 2018, p. 10.

[←17]

.    M Quinlan, The effects of non-standard forms of employment on worker health and safety, Conditions of Work and Employment Series, 67, International Labour Organisation, Geneva, 2015, p. 6.

[←18]

.    Fair Work Ombudsman, Tax & superannuation.

[←19]

   Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic and Social Research, The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey: Selected Findings from Waves 1 to 17, University of Melbourne, 2019, pp. 71-78.

[←20]

.    1992 to 2003—ABS, Australian Labour Market Statistics, ABS, Canberra, various years, Table 1; 2004 to 2020—ABS, Characteristics of Employment, Australia, ABS, Canberra, December 2020, Table 1c.3; 2021—ABS, Labour Force, detailed, ABS, Canberra, October 2021, Datacube EQ04 (original data).

[←21]

.    ABS, Australian Labour Market Statistics, op. cit., Table 1; ABS, Characteristics of Employment, op. cit., Table 1c.3.

[←22]

.    Ibid.

[←23]

.    Treasury, JobKeeper Payment—Frequently Asked Questions, Treasury, Canberra, last updated 26 June 2020.

[←24]

.    ABS, Characteristics of Employment, Australia, ABS, Canberra, using TableBuilder.

[←25]

.    ABS, Labour Force, detailed, op. cit., Table 13 (original data).

[←26]

.    ABS, Characteristics of Employment, Australia, op. cit., using TableBuilder.

[←27]

. ABS, Characteristics of Employment, Australia, op. cit., using TableBuilder.

[←28]

.    eChoice, Can casual employees get a home loan?, 8 July 2020.

[←29]

. ABS, Characteristics of Employment, Australia, op. cit., using TableBuilder.

[←30]

.    Ibid.

[←31]

.    ABS, Characteristics of Employment, Australia, op. cit., Table 1c.2.

[←32]

.    Weighting is the process of adjusting results from a sample survey to infer results for the total in scope population whether that be persons, income units or households.

[←33]

.    ABS, Characteristics of Employment, Australia, op. cit., using TableBuilder.

[←34]

.    Ibid.

[←35]

.    ABS, Characteristics of Employment, Australia, ABS, Canberra, using TableBuilder.

[←36]

.    Ibid.

[←37]

.    Weighting is the process of adjusting results from a sample survey to infer results for the total in scope population whether that be persons, income units or households.

[←38]

.    I Mooi-Reci and M Wooden, ‘Casual employment and long-term wage outcomes’, Human Relations, 70(9), 2017, pp. 1085–1086.

[←39]

.    The prevalence rate is the casual employee share of all employees in each industry.

[←40]

.    ABS, Characteristics of Employment, Australia, op. cit., using TableBuilder.

[←41]

.    ABS, Characteristics of Employment, Australia, op. cit., using TableBuilder.