Sustainable work: the issues for Australia - In Search of Sustainability - page 141

Table 10.1 Employment by industry, Australia, 1966, 1986 and 2002 (%)

Industry 1966 1986 2002

Manufacturing 26 16 12

Services 65 76 83

Source: Adapted from ABS (6203.0).

work - for example in the service sectors, hospitality and caring professions.
Figure 10.1 illustrates that the number of full-time permanent jobs in Aus-
tralia fell by 51 000 between 1990 and 2000. Three-quarters of all additional
jobs created in the 1990s were part-time jobs and nearly half were part-time,
casual jobs (Borland, Gregory & Sheehan 2001). Predictions are that by 2010
one in three workers will be casually employed - we are coming close to that
already. Yet 68 per cent of casual workers said in a recent survey that they
would prefer permanent to casual work (Watson et al. 2003).
Consequently, we suggest that the increase in casual work is the major
threat to equality in the workforce and a sustainable future for Australia.
These changes to employment contracts are important, as the average part-
time casual job attracted earnings that were only 30 per cent of the average
full-time permanent job in 2000 (and this does not include the difference in
employee benefits). Casual workers are not only ineligible for holiday and
sick pay benefits, they are also more vulnerable with regard to irregular
income, may have to work unpredictable hours, have a lack of access to edu-
cation and training opportunities in the workplace and experience job inse-
curity among other things (Standing 2002).

Earning inequities
There has been a huge increase in earnings at the top end of the labour
market (53 per cent real income growth for those in the top decile) and no
real income growth for the 60 per cent of workers who are on middle and
low incomes. The working poor are no longer confined to young or part-
time workers as 70 per cent of low wage workers are of prime working age
(25-54 years) and the majority of low waged women work full-time (Watson
et al. 2003).
So what can we make of these changes? Structural change has always
been present as the patterns of demand and trade vary, new products
emerge, consumer tastes alter and technology develops. What appears to be