Part‐time employment in Australia: unusual features and social policy issues

Abstract

As with many other OECD economies, a growing part‐time employment share has been a characteristic of the Australian workforce experience over the past three decades. Examines several distinctive features of Australian part‐time employment, namely: the high proportion of part‐time employees who are employed under casual employment conditions, the growing male part‐time employment share and the growing proportion of involuntary part‐time workers. Outlines several important policy implications, namely: many part‐time employees are entitled to but not receiving permanent employment conditions; many part‐timers are excluded from the many non‐wage entitlements associated with full‐time employment; adjusted hourly wage rates for part‐time workers appear to be falling relative to full‐time workers, the ability of part‐time employees to participate in the newly emerging collective bargaining framework is constrained by their very low trade union density relative to full‐time employees; and there are doubts as to how part‐time workers can effectively participate in and benefit from the emerging programme of employee‐based superannuation entitlements.

Citation

Burgess, J. (1997), "Part‐time employment in Australia: unusual features and social policy issues", International Journal of Social Economics, Vol. 24 No. 7/8/9, pp. 831-846. https://doi.org/10.1108/03068299710178883