CASUAL WORKERS REMAIN IMPORTANT TO HOSPITALITY

There were 2.4 million employees who considered their job to be casual in August 2025, according to data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Sean Crick, ABS head of labour statistics said: ‘There were 12.3 million employees in Australia in August 2025. This means that around one in five employees, or 19 per cent, were working as a casual in their main job.

Women are more likely to work in a casual job than men, with 21 per cent of female employees working as casuals. This was 18 per cent for male employees.

Most casuals prefer casual work

Almost three quarters (73 per cent) of casual employees preferred casual employment. The main reasons were flexibility (53 per cent) and higher hourly pay rate (23 per cent).

‘Of the 2.4 million casual employees, just under half were aged 15 to 24 years, and 61 per cent weren’t guaranteed a minimum number of hours of work,’ Mr Crick said.

The Accommodation and food services industry was the most casualised, with 58% of employees working in that industry in their main job employed as a casual in that job. Casual employees in the Accommodation and food services, Retail trade or Health care and social assistance industries combined made up 53% of all casual employees.

Around one in two employees had some say in start or finish times 

Around 7.5 million employees had some say in start or finish times. More than half of these employees (53 per cent) were able to choose their own start or finish times, while the remaining 47 per cent were able to negotiate their times with their employer in advance.

 

For more information >>> Casual work continues to decline | Australian Bureau of Statistics