One in five, or 19% of Australian workers were casual employees in November 2011 according to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). This represents just under 2.2 million people.


The majority (62%) of employed people were employees with paid leave entitlements, while a further 9% were either independent contractors and a similar proportion were other business operators. 

Females were more likely than males not to have paid leave entitlements (23% compared with 16%). 

Over half (64%) of all employees in the Accommodation and food services industry did not have paid leave entitlements. Other industries where there was a high proportion of employees without paid leave entitlements included:

  • Agriculture, forestry and fishing (48%)
  • Retail trade (40%)
  • Arts and recreation services (39%).


The occupation with the highest proportion of employees without paid leave entitlements was Sales workers (48%), followed by Labourers (46%). Occupations with a low proportion of employees without paid leave entitlements were Managers (6%) and Professionals (10%). 

The ABS also found that there were 605,400 persons (5% of all employed persons) who found their job through a labour hire firm/employment agency in November 2011, of whom 56% were males. Of these, 141,700 persons (23% of those who found their job through a labour hire firm/employment agency) were paid by a labour hire firm/employment agency.

 

Administrative and support services (20%) and Manufacturing (13%) were the industries with the greatest proportion of those who were paid by a labour hire firm/employment agency, while Clerical and administrative workers (21%) and Machinery operators and drivers (19%) were the most common occupation groups.