Casual workers in Australia are falling further behind their permanently employed counterparts, new research by the ACTU (Australian Council of Trade Unions) shows.

Across the board, casual employees earn AUD 11.59 (USD 7.71) less per hour than their permanent counterparts: AUD 28.95 (USD 19.26) per hour versus AUD 40.54 (USD 26.97). This is a pay gap of 28.6% which has been growing steadily since 2016 and is now the highest on record.

When comparing workers at the same skill level or within the same occupation, the pay gap between casuals and permanents is between AUD 3.55 to AUD 3.84 an hour or about 11%. This is despite casuals being owed an additional loading of up to 25%.

The ACTU research also shows that 50% of casual workers now report being financially worse off than they were 12 months ago, up from 36% recorded a year earlier.  

Up to 2.6 million workers in Australia, or just under one in four, are on casual work arrangements. Women comprise 55% of all casual employees; and the sectors with the highest rates of casualisation include retail, accommodation, food services, health care and social assistance, accounting for 55% of all casual employees.

The Council is calling for former Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s government changes to the law to be scrapped, and a ‘common sense’ definition of casual work to be introduced as part of the government’s further Industrial Relations reforms.