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Casual Employment
Tony Kryger
Statistics Group
24 August 1999
A quarter of all employees are now casual employees in the sense of being
on temporary contracts with limited entitlements to benefits and little
or no security of employment. Most new jobs created in Australia are for
casual workers. For example, over the past 10 years more than two-thirds
of all (1.18 million) new jobs created were casual jobs. This represents
a significant shift away from the notion of full-time and permanent waged
employment as the 'standard' employment arrangement. In its place has
emerged the idea of the 'flexible firm' comprising a secure group of core
workers and a peripheral group of temporary workers, out-workers and subcontractors.
The purpose of this Research Note is to look at the nature of casual
work, those factors in the workplace that may account for its increase
and whether casual employment is a preferred outcome for most workers1.
Definitions
There is no standard number of working hours that defines a casual worker.
Consequently, casual workers can be employed on either a full-time or
part-time basis.
At common law, the main difference between a permanent and a casual worker
is the notion that a permanent employee has an ongoing contract of employment
of unspecified duration while a casual employee has not. The characteristics
of casual employment that flow from this notion are:
- limited entitlements to benefits generally associated with continuity
of employment such as annual and sick leave, and
- no entitlement to prior notification of retrenchment (no security
of employment) and only a limited case for compensation or reinstatement.
It is interesting to note that many awards and agreements now classify
workers as being under either casual, continuing or fixed term contracts.
For the purpose of this Research Note, however, only a two-way (permanent
or casual) split is recognised. All statistics are based on the ABS definition
that a casual employee is someone who is not entitled to either paid holiday
leave or sick leave while any other employee is permanent.
Trends in Casual Employment
The number of casual employees has increased steadily over the past 10
years from 19 per cent of all wage and salary earners in 1988 to 27 per
cent in 1998 (see table). While most casual employees are females, the
increase in male casual employment has outpaced that of females, albeit
from a lower base. Over the past decade, male casual employment has risen
by 115 per cent (to 894 000 employees) compared with an increase of 43 per
cent (to 1 052 000 employees) for females.
Casual Work Profile
Most casual workers in Australia are part-time. Casual workers currently
represent 13 per cent of all full-time employees but 68 per cent of all
part-time employees.
Most casual workers are concentrated in just a few occupations, and these
tend to be relatively low skilled. 'Intermediate' and 'elementary clerical,
sales and service workers' as well as 'labourers and related workers'
account for 72 per cent of all female casuals while the occupations 'tradespersons
and related workers', 'intermediate production and transport workers'
and 'labourers and related workers' account for 55 per cent of all male
casuals.
The 'retail trade' industry is the main employer of both male and female
casuals, accounting for almost a quarter of all casual employees. 'Health
and community services' is the next most significant employer of female
casuals whereas for males it is the 'property and business services' sector.
Differences exist in the reasons given by males and females for working
part-time. Job availability and study are more important for males, while
family considerations are much more important for females.
Reasons for Growth in Casual Workforce
The growth in the casual workforce is due to a complex set of factors
on both the supply and demand side of the labour market, with most of
the impetus coming from the demand side.
On the supply side, the reasons why people seek casual work include the
fact that it allows employees:
- to combine paid work with family responsibilities, study or other
interests
- to ease out of the labour force if nearing retirement, and
- to supplement the family income.
The increased participation by females in the labour force over the past
20 years has been an important factor in the growth in casual employment.
While more females wanting work have probably led to more casual jobs,
the strongest influence is likely to have been in the opposite direction,
i.e. more casual jobs have attracted more women into the workforce.
On the demand side, the growth in the services sector is often cited
as the most important factor contributing to the rise in casual work as
this sector is a disproportionate user of casual workers. Another factor
is the regulations that apply to long-term continuous employment, making
it more attractive for employers to hire staff on a temporary basis. Temporary
contracts are less costly (non-wage benefits do not always apply and dismissal
can be achieved without severance payments) and they allow firms to exercise
much greater flexibility in hiring and firing staff.
Is Casual Work a Preferred Outcome for Workers?
While data on this subject is very fragmentary, it is possible to make
some general observations. For some, particularly young people in education
and females with family responsibilities, casual work is a preferred outcome
as it provides extra income and can be a stepping stone to entering the
workforce on a permanent basis. For others, such as the previously unemployed,
older males seeking full-time work and those with limited training and
work experience, casual work is often an alternative to unemployment when
no permanent jobs are available.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics Survey of Employment and Unemployment
Patterns (see ABS, Australians' Employment and Unemployment Patterns
1994-1997 Cat. No. 6286.0) has made some interesting findings with
regard to casual work. For example, it found that many jobseekers end
up in a casual job-of all wage and salary jobs held in the period May
1995 to September 1997 by persons who had been jobseekers at the beginning
of this period, two-thirds were casual jobs. The ABS Survey also found
that many of these jobs were unstable in the sense of being either short
term (lasting less than six months) or longer term but occupied by persons
looking for other work. The ABS also found that of those jobseekers at
May 1995 who were in a casual job at September 1996, only about a fifth
had progressed to a permanent job one year later and a quarter were no
longer in any job at all.
The ABS findings thus support the notion that for many, casual employment
does not lead to a permanent job but rather is likely to result in a cycle
of involuntary employment arrangements and insecure and irregular employment.
- This Research Note draws on material in Jane Romeyn, Flexible Working
Time: Part-Time and Casual Employment (Industrial Relations Research
Monograph Number 1), Department of Industrial Relations, Canberra, 1992;
and J. Burgess and I. Campbell, 'Casual Employment in Australia: Growth,
Characteristics, A Bridge or a Trap', The Economic and Labour Relations
Review, vol. 9, no. 1, June 1998.
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