Casual employment in Australia

Abstract

This article uses data from Wave 1 of the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) 2001 survey to examine whether there is a difference in financial well-being between casual and permanent employees. The study examines two measures of financial difficulty and one measure of financial satisfaction and finds that casual employees fare worse than permanent employees on all three measures. The results indicate that casual employees are less likely to afford basic costs of living, such as bills and mortgage/rent, and have higher levels of financial difficulty as well as lower levels of financial satisfaction. The article concludes that casual employment imposes significant financial strains on employees.