Tasmania: No future as place of cheap workforce

An inquiry into job security has heard that the Tasmania workforce is more casualised than the rest of the country.

The national inquiry established by the ACTU has held a hearing in Hobart.

The Community and Public Sector Union has described the situation in Tasmania as bleak.

Secretary Tom Lynch said that while up to 40 per cent of the Australian workforce was in casual or contract work, the figure was significantly higher in Tasmania.

He said women were hardest hit by insecure work in low-paid jobs and that a good education does not always protect women.

Neroli Ellis from the nurses' union says increasing casualisation of public sector nurses is counter-productive because more nurses are working double shifts, costing the Health Department more than if it employed permanent staff.

Mr Lynch says Tasmanians need to decide what sort of work will form the basis of the state's economy in the future.

"Tasmania does not have a future as the cheap workplace of Australia."

"We can't compete with Asia and places like that, we need to find our own niche, and that's what we should be talking about as a community right now rather than the rubbish that seems to be our public debate."

The inquiry is chaired by former Deputy Prime Minister Brian Howe.

He believes the increasing casualisation of employees is having a dramatic effect on society.

Mr Howe says the constant push for greater productivity and workforce flexibility is creating a feeling of risk for employees.

"A very large share of Australia's population has been put on the sidelines, has been marginalised perhaps in and out of the workforce, but without the security that is very important if people are going to make their maximum contribution."