Since May 2020, over 400,000 casual jobs have been created, accounting for over 60% of all new waged positions since the recovery started, according to a report from think tank The Australia Institute.

The Institute added that these 400,000 casual jobs (2,200 per day, on average) accounted for over 60% of all new waged positions since the recovery started. It is also the largest surge in casual employment in Australia’s history, contradicting business and government claims that uncertainty about casual employment rules are holding back hiring.

The Institute also warned that the pandemic exacerbated inequality and insecurity in Australia’s labour market.

Key findings showed that workers in casual jobs lost employment at a rate eight times faster than those in permanent positions while part-time workers suffered job losses three times worse than full-time workers.

Young workers, women, and workers who do not work in offices also suffered disproportionate job losses during the initial shutdowns, and continue to experience much worse employment conditions, according to the think tank.

“It is painfully ironic that the worst impacts of the pandemic were felt by those who could least afford to lose their work and income,” said Jim Stanford, Director of the Centre for Future Work, and co-author of the report.

Meanwhile, the findings also showed that workers over 35 years of age have regained all of the jobs lost in the pandemic, and added more. All remaining job losses are concentrated among workers under 35.

Office-based occupations (professionals, clerical workers, and most managers) have also regained pre-pandemic employment levels. But other occupations (community and personal services, sales workers, and labourers) continued to suffer major employment losses.

“Both on the way down, and on the way back up, this recession has reinforced the dominance of insecure work in Australia’s labour market, Stanford said. “Precarious work strategies explain why the effects of the pandemic were so painfully unequal, and this new surge in insecure work makes Australians even more vulnerable to such shocks in the future.”

“Covid-19 had a terrible impact on both the quantity and quality of work in 2020,” Stanford continued. “Because Australia has been relatively successful in controlling the virus, the labour market could improve significantly in 2021, however, the rapid expansion of insecure work poses a major challenge to the stability and prosperity of Australian households.”

The Institute added that new labour laws proposed by the Commonwealth government would accelerate the surge in insecure work: liberalising the use of casual labour by employers, and allowing them to treat permanent part-time workers more like casuals.