Publications
A Casual Discussion: The need to redefine casual employment
OCCASIONAL PAPER
In the brave new world of work in Australia, the biggest concern for working people is security or more accurately the lack of it. Gone are the days of a job for life in one company. People are working for shorter periods with more employers. Retrenchment, at some point in a worker's life, is a common experience.
One of the major contributors to this lack of security is casual work. It is a growing phenomenon and is now prevalent in all industries and all occupations in the workforce. However, most worrying is that it now applies to people for whom casual work was never originally intended.
Between 1988 and 2001 the rate of casualisation in the Australian workforce grew from 19% to 27%. Traditionally rates of casualisation were highest among women and teenagers. Over this period casualisation in both these sectors grew, particularly among teenagers where the casualisation rate went from 39% to 66%. But significantly the rate of casualisation among men also skyrocketed from 12% to 24%. (ABS, Employee Earnings, Benefits and Trade Union Membership, 1988 & 2001, 6310.0)
The key question is whether this growth has occurred as a result of employer driven desires or worker preference. In The Future of Work by Ian Watson, John Buchanan, Iain Campbell and Chris Briggs, (Federation Press, Sydney, 2003) this question was examined after looking at ABS research on the preferences of casual workers. They concluded:
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It is important to understand that while growing numbers of workers are employed as 'casuals' this does not mean they desire to work irregularly. Recent data collected from people who described themselves as 'casuals' revealed that only one in five want to work on an intermittent basis ... (p.104)
Employers may dispute this arguing that many of their casual employees like the added income they attract from being a casual. Yet in The Future of Work the point is also made that in the growth areas of casual employment many of these casuals are working on base award rates alongside permanents working on over-award payments with the result that even with the casual loading these casuals are earning less than their permanent colleagues.
Combine this with the growing phenomenon of the long-term casual and it all points to a picture of a significant body of employers in Australia using casual employment as a way of avoiding the obligations that go with having permanent employees.
Casual employment was never intended for this purpose. Employers do have peaks and troughs in their business and casual employment is an appropriate form of employment to engage a short-term workforce which handles these peak demands. But its use should be limited to this kind of short-term unpredictable work rather than being a means by which employers avoid their obligations.
By international standards Australia has a very high rate of casualisation. In their use of insecure atypical employment, employers in Australia are going beyond the norms established in other OECD countries. Workers pay the price of this insecurity but so too do other parts of the economy, for permanent employment provides access to credit for homes and cars in a way that casual employment simply does not.
For these reasons the ACTU will be running a test case on casuals this year in the Australian Industrial Relations Commission. Its aim is to make clear that casual employment should only be used to supplement permanent labour rather than replace it.
Establishing this principle will be a significant step down the long path of restoring some security for employees in the Australian workplace.