Australia: Casual work crisis

Speaking at the launch of a national campaign against the spread of casual and contract work, ACTU secretary Jeff Lawrence said more workers than ever were employed on an "insecure basis".

"What we have in Australia now is a crisis of insecure work," he told union members in Sydney today.

"No longer are there jobs that you can rely on to support families in Australia.

"Insecure work has impacted on people who need a regular income that is required to support their families."

Mr Lawrence said there were now more insecure workers than ever before and that "every year that number is growing faster".

"Insecure work is no longer, if it ever was in fact, the domain of students, or those caring for children," he said.


There are more than two million workers nationwide employed on a casual basis, while about one million workers are contractors, Mr Lawrence said.

This includes some 66 per cent of workers in the hospitality sector who are casuals and 40 per cent of retail staff.

Mr Lawrence said many more sectors such as finance and education were embracing casualised work.

"It means, for example, that if you're a graduate teacher today you're more likely to be on a fixed term contract than ongoing work," he said.

"Some 16 per cent of teachers are now on fixed term contracts."