The Role of Non-Traditional Work in the Australian Labour Market

CONTENTS

Preliminaries
Foreword, Acknowledgements, Abbreviations, Glossary

Overview
Key points
Prevalence and growth of non-traditional work
Characteristics of non-traditional work
Non-traditional work and labour market transitions
Non-traditional wages and family income
Conclusions

1   Introduction
1.1   What makes some work non-traditional?
1.2   Why is non-traditional work of policy interest?
1.3   What research questions are addressed in this paper?

2   Identifying non-traditional workers
2.1   The prevalence and growth of non-traditional work
2.2   Casual employees
2.3   Fixed-term employees
2.4   Self-employed contractors
2.5   Labour hire workers
2.6   Conclusion

3   What are the reasons for the existence of non-traditional work?
3.1   Demand for non-traditional work
3.2   Supply of non-traditional work
3.3   Summary of factors explaining non-traditional work

4   The characteristics of non-traditional work
4.1   Does the prevalence of non-traditional work change with the age of a worker?
4.2   Do forms of employment differ by gender?
4.3   Geographical variations
4.4   Do forms of employment vary between occupation and industry?
4.5   Do hours worked per week differ between forms of employment?
4.6   Is there a relationship between education and form of employment?
4.7   Job satisfaction of non-traditional workers
4.8   Job satisfaction of casuals
4.9   Other characteristics of self-employed contractors
4.10   Summary

5   The role of non-traditional work in labour market transitions
5.1   Labour market transitions of people of working age
5.2   Employee labour market transitions
5.3   Concluding comments

6   Casual employment: stepping stone or trap?
6.1   Introduction
6.2   For whom is casual employment a stepping stone?
6.3   For whom is casual employment a persistent state?
6.4   Who is at risk of reverting to non-employment?
6.5   Policy implications

7   The contribution of non-traditional work to family income
7.1   Introduction
7.2   How important is non-traditional work for families?
7.3   Where are ‘non-traditional wage families’ positioned in the distribution of family income?
7.4   Do the components of family income differ between non-traditional and traditional wage families?
7.5   Concluding comments

8   Summary and conclusions
8.1   Prevalence and growth
8.2   Characteristics
8.3   Transitions
8.4   Household income
8.5   Avenues for further research

Appendix A   Calculating the prevalence of non-traditional work
A.1   Self-identified casuals
A.2   Fixed-term employees
A.3   Self-employed contractors
A.4   Labour hire workers

Appendix B   Detailed data on non-traditional work

Appendix C   Work and retirement decisions of older Australians
C.1   Why might those considering changing their employment before retirement prefer non-traditional work?
C.2   How did those who changed their employment to transition to retirement, change it?
C.3   Why return to work from retirement?
C.4   Why might the timing of a person’s retirement decision be influenced by the availability of non-traditional work?

Appendix D   Modelling transitions from casual employment
D.1   Data source
D.2   Modelling approach
D.3   Results  

References