Full-time work

Employees are employed on a permanent basis and usually work a 38-hour week.

Part-time work

A potent force in Australian industry; especially as many part-time jobs are in the fast-growing services sector. Part-time workers are permanent employees who usually work:

• Less than full-time hours of 38 per week; and
• Have reasonably predictable hours of work; and
• Receive on a pro-rata basis, equivalent pay and conditions to those of full-time employees who do the same kind of work eg pro-rata annual leave, sick leave etc.

Casual Work

Casual employment is often temporary work which does not offer the protection of a permanent job. Casual employees are not usually entitled to benefits associated with continuous employment - although they are often entitled to a 'loading' on top of the rate for permanent workers. This is usually designed to compensate for missing out on sick leave, holiday pay and other benefits.

Part-time and casual work – the full story

Part-time workers are permanent employees who often have a set number of weekly working hours, but do not work full-time.

Casual work is much the same as part-time work but you don't have a permanent weekly roster or receive the same entitlements as part-timers. Therefore you may get less shifts (or go for weeks without a shift) and are not entitled to maternity leave, paid sick leave, annual leave and redundancy payments.

In Australia, 2.3 million people are part-time or casual workers.

Australia now has a higher number of part-time and casual workers than most of the other industrialised countries in the world. The numbers of casual employees in Australia are also growing at a much greater rate than that of other employees.

Women also make up a large proportion of the part-time and casual workforce. It is worth noting that although women outnumber men in casual and part-time work, more and more men are joining them.

Part-time, all the time?

Working part-time or casually is a good way for young people to get experience in the workplace and earn some money while they're still at school. But for others, part-time or casual work is often something people only want to do for a limited period of time. For instance, some people may take a part-time job in between looking for more permanent work or might seek part-time work because they have other things, like poor health or family responsibilities that keep them from working full-time. Few workplaces have arrangements that allow for a transition between part-time and full-time work. Employers sometimes don't understand that. Many people who work in part-time and casual positions do not do so by choice and would like more hours per week, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Some facts about casuals

• More than one in four (27.9 per cent) of all Australian workers are casual workers;
• One third of all casuals are aged between 15 and 24;
• 24 per cent of all male workers are casual workers (up from 13 per cent in 1990);
• 32 per cent of all women workers are casual workers (up from 28 per cent in 1990);
• Australia has the second highest proportion of temporary or casual workers of any developed country behind Spain;
• Since 1996, 35 per cent of all the net new jobs created have been casual;
• Between 1990 and 2003 in Australia:

- The number of full-time casual workers grew two and a half times,

- The proportion of all workers employed as casuals grew from 19.6 per cent to 27.9 per cent,

- The proportion of all male workers employed as casuals more than doubled.