Casual employment has dropped and more permanent jobs have been created due to industrial relations reforms under the Albanese government, a report released today by the Australian Council of Trade Unions shows.
Approximately 230,000 workers are now in permanent jobs instead of casual ones, and nine in 10 of all new jobs created during this term have been permanent.
The level of casual employment dropped to 22 per cent of all employment, down from the average of 24.1 per cent under the previous nine years of Coalition governments.
Women in Australia are considerably overrepresented in insecure jobs, such as in the care sector and casual work. The high share of part-time and casual work contributes to the gender pay gap as women with less time in the labour market are less likely to advance to higher status positions.
According to 2024 data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 43.3 per cent of women work part-time and 19.5 per cent of men work part-time.
Data from 2023 also shows that 35.7 per cent of women cite caring for children as the main reason they are unavailable to start work or work more hours, compared to 7.3 per cent of men.
ACTU Secretary, Sally McManus called the increase in permanent jobs “a very significant achievement and a boost to job security for Australian workers”.
“Australians have more permanent jobs as a result of the government’s Closing Loopholes legislation, which cracked down on too many jobs being casualised,” said McManus.
“From today, many casual workers also get stronger rights to convert to permanency if they want. While many people are happy with casual work, hundreds of thousands are not.
The Closing Loopholes reforms passed early in 2024 include a new definition of casual employment, designed to stop employers from labelling almost anyone a casual.
Due to this change in laws, 687,500 casual workers who still want to switch to permanent work, now have access to a clear pathway to permanent jobs.
The reforms also give workers the right to challenge their status and allows the Fair Work Commission to step in to settle disputes. From today, an employee in casual work, not employed by a small business, can access these stronger rights.