Resource Management and Geography - Theses
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ItemLabour restructuring and the growth of casual employment in Australia, 1982-1996( 1998)This thesis examines the expansion of casual employment in Australia since the early 1980s. It investigates the important phenomenon of casualisation, ie the increase in the proportion of employees who are employed under a casual contract of employment. ABS data suggest that the proportion of employees who are casual employees (in their main job) rose sharply from 13.3 per cent in 1982 to 26.1 per cent in 1996. Casualisation is a central element of contemporary labour restructuring in Australia, with significant implications for the employees directly involved, other workers, employers, trade unions and policy-makers. In spite of its importance, it is, however, neglected in social science research. Casual employment is the main form of non-permanent waged work in Australia. It is an unusual phenomenon, without an easily recognisable counterpart in other advanced capitalist societies, where non-permanent waged work, ie 'temporary' employment, is more likely to take the form of fixed-term contracts. The thesis is both a theoretical and an empirical study. It appropriates and develops several theoretical concepts to use in the investigation of casualisation in Australia. In order to assist in delineating the main features of casual employment and casualisation, it develops and deploys a comparative perspective. After reviewing the extensive literature on temporary employment in other advanced capitalist societies, the thesis argues that casual employment, like temporary employment in many European countries, can be understood as situated within the gaps in the system of protective regulation, including a gap associated with special rules and special exemptions. It is the distinctive form of labour regulation in Australia that is largely responsible for the distinctive features of casual employment. The empirical component of the thesis describes and starts to explain the phenomenon of casualisation. It builds up a detailed descriptive profile of the expansion of casual employment, drawing primarily on aggregate ABS data. This starts with a description of the labour regulations that structure the casual employment contract. In addition, it includes description of the steady expansion of casual employment since the early 1980s, the (changing) distribution of casual employees in the employment structure, the characteristics of casual employees (according to age, sex and ethnicity), and the conditions of casual employment. The thesis also examines the causes of casualisation. It focuses on employer calculations and choices, and points to the way in which casual employment, where it is available to employers, can offer advantages in terms of cheaper labour costs, greater ease of dismissal, ability to match labour-time to fluctuations in workload, administrative convenience, and enhanced control. It suggests that the expansion of casual employment can be viewed as the product of a combination of factors, including shifts in the relative advantages of casual employment, in product market imperatives, in employer power, and in employer perceptions.