Working arrangements

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Working arrangements and forms of employment, such as casual work, fixed-term, independent contractors, shift work, job flexibility and job security

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Reference period
August 2025
Release date and time
12/12/2025 11:30am AEDT

Key statistics

In August 2025:

  • There were 2.4 million casual employees (19% of all employees, and 17% of all employed people).
  • 17% of employees didn't have minimum guaranteed hours, down from 18% in August 2024.
  • There were 1.1 million independent contractors (7.6% of all employed).
  • 36% of employed people usually work from home.
  • 3.7% of employees were employed on a fixed-term contract.
  • 78% of employees were entitled to employer provided paid parental leave.

Upcoming changes to the Characteristics of Employment survey

As part of ABS plans to modernise the Labour Force Survey (LFS) (see Modernising the Labour Force Survey) there will be changes to the way the labour supplementary surveys, including Characteristics of Employment, are conducted. This will include changes to the timing of collection, the reference periods that data are published in respect of, the content collected, and the range and timing of outputs produced.

The key changes to the model used to collect the LFS and supplementary surveys include:

  • no longer collecting the LFS supplementary surveys in specific calendar months - currently collected in February (Participation, Jobs Search and Mobility), May (Education and Work), and August (Characteristics of Employment)
  • collecting a new redesigned labour supplementary survey on a monthly basis from respondents in their last (of eight) months in the LFS (the 'outgoing' rotation group)
  • no longer collecting additional LFS content in 'quarter months' (Feb, May, Aug and Dec) - with content currently collected quarterly moving to either the 'core' monthly LFS (e.g. industry and occupation) or the new labour supplementary survey

The changes will be implemented progressively across 2026. As a result:

  • August 2025 was the last time the Characteristics of Employment survey was conducted in its current form
  • the upcoming Participation, Job Search and Mobility survey, scheduled for February 2026, will be the last conduced in its current form
  • the 2025-26 Barriers and Incentives survey, which is collected in the Multi-Purpose Household Survey (MPHS), will also be the last conducted in its current form

A redesigned labour supplementary survey is expected to commence in the 2nd half of 2026. This survey will combine and integrate content currently collected in:

  • Characteristics of Employment
  • Participation, Job Search and Mobility
  • Barriers and Incentives (from MPHS)
  • Casual Experience (from MPHS)
  • the quarter month Labour Force Survey (that isn't moving to the monthly LFS)

Data from the new supplementary survey will be compiled and published on a calendar year basis. More information on the content and timing of the suite of outputs that will be published from the new supplementary survey will be provided in 2026, however we expect a similar range of data as published across the current suite of releases would continue to be available.

Statistics from the 2025 Characteristics of Employment survey are also published in Employee earnings.

Casual employment

There were 12.3 million employees in August 2025, with 2.4 million (19%) employed as a casual in their main job. Woman are more likely to be casual employees than men (21% compared with 18% for men).

The industries where casual employees were most common were Accommodation and food services (58% of all employees working in accommodation and food services), Agriculture, forestry and fishing (38%) and Arts and recreation services (37%).

The occupations with the highest proportions of casual employees were:

  • Community and personal service workers (23%).
  • Labourers (19%).
  • Sales workers (18%).

There are several other characteristics often associated with casual jobs. In August 2025:

  • 22% of employees had earnings that vary from one period to the next (excluding overtime payments) (2.7 million).
  • 17% of employees did not usually work the same number of hours each week (2.0 million).
  • 17% of employees did not have a guaranteed minimum number of hours each week (2.1 million).
  • 10% of employees did not expect to be working for their current employer in 12 months (1.2 million).

Data from the Multi-Purpose Household Survey (MPHS) shows that in 2024-25, 73% of casual employees indicated that they preferred casual employment (70% of male casual employees and 76% of female casual employees).

Of those casuals who preferred casual employment, the main reasons they preferred casual employment were:

  • flexibility (53%)
  • higher hourly pay rate (23%)

Of those who do not prefer casual employment, the main aspects of casual employment they would change were:

  • have paid leave entitlements (27%)
  • have regular work hours (19%)

Most casual employees (78%) had not had a discussion with their employer about converting from a casual to permanent employment.

Paid leave entitlements

In August 2025, there were 2.5 million employees who were not entitled to either paid holiday or paid sick leave in their main job. This represents 20% of employees.

Of employees who work part-time in their main job, 47% did not have paid leave entitlements (1.8 million).

 

Quarterly estimates from August 2014 onwards are sourced from Labour Force, Australia, Detailed.

Paid leave entitlements are more common among higher paid workers. In August 2025, 94% of employees who earned the median wage of $1,425 per week or more were entitled to either paid sick leave or paid holiday leave, or both.

For employees in the lowest 25 per cent of earners (less than $900 per week), 46% had paid sick leave or paid holiday leave entitlements.

Working time arrangements

In August 2025 there were 30% of employees that had an agreement to work flexible hours and 31% of employed people usually worked extra hours or overtime.

Independent contractors

Additional questions in the Characteristics of Employment survey allow employment relationships to be reclassified according to the 'Form of employment', which enables the identification of 'Independent contractors'. See the Methodology page for a description of the Forms of employment framework, and how people are classified to it.

In August 2025, there were 1.1 million independent contractors, an increase of 33,000 from August 2024. This represents 7.6% of all employed people.

The industries where independent contracting was most common were Administrative and support services (22% of people employed in Administrative and support services), Construction (21%) and Other services (14%).

For more information on Industries, refer to Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC)

The occupations with the highest proportions of Independent Contractors were:

  • Technicians and trades workers (15%).
  • Labourers (11%).
  • Machinery operators and drivers (9%).

Data is coded to ANZSCO ver 1.2. For more information on Occupations and Skill level, refer to ANZSCO - Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations

Working from home

In August 2025, 36% of employed people usually worked from home.

The ABS has measured the number of people working from home since 1970. Between 1989 and 2008, around 20-30% of people worked from home, with around 4% to 8% working most of their hours from home. In August 2021, working from home had increased to 40%. The rates seen during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 were the highest ever recorded.

The ABS measured people working from home during the pandemic in the Household Impacts of COVID-19 Survey. While it is not directly comparable with estimates from the Characteristics of Employment Survey, it showed that between September 2020 and June 2021, about 40% of employed people were working from home, with 20-30% working most of their hours from home.

Worked from home last week: (a) Journey to Work and Journey to School, 1970-1974, (b) Persons Employed at Home, 1989-1995, (d) Locations of Work, 2000-2008; - Usually works from home: (c) Employment Arrangements, Retirement and Superannuation, 2000-2007, (e) Characteristics of Employment, 2015-2025; - Worked from home in last four weeks: (f) Household Impacts of COVID-19 Survey, 2020-2022

In 2025, the main reason people usually worked from home was to work more flexibly or choose own hours (23%), followed by operates business from home or home based job (22%) and to catch up on work after hours (21%).  

In August 2025, 59% of managers and professionals usually worked form home, compared with 21% for all other occupations. 

People who worked from home were more likely to:

  • work overtime (42% of people who worked from home worked overtime, compared with 26% of those who did not work from home).
  • have an agreement to work flexible hours (47%, compared with 22%).

Fixed-term contracts

In August 2025, 3.7% of employees were employed on a fixed-term contract (459,000 employees). Of these:

  • 37% were working on a contract with a total term length of 1 year or less.
  • 58% were working on a contract with a total term length of 1 to 4 years.
  • 5% were working on a contract with a total term length of 5 or more years.

67% of employees on a fixed-term contract expected their contract to be renewed and 76% expect to be working in their current job in 12 months' time. In comparison, 91% of employees not on a fixed-term contract expect to be in their current job in 12 months time.

The median weekly earnings for employees on a fixed-term contract were $1,673, compared with $1,400 for employees who were not on a fixed-term contract.

The industries with the highest proportion of employees on a fixed-term contract were:

  • Education and training (10%).
  • Arts and Recreation Services (6%).
  • Public administration and safety (6%).

Digital platform workers

Since 2022-23, the ABS has collected information on digital platform workers in the Multi-Purpose Household Survey (MPHS). For information on the framework used to measure digital platform work and workers, see Labour Statistics: Concepts, Sources and Methods. The framework shows how the ABS has defined and scoped digital platform work and the classification of tasks undertaken by people who are paid-per-task.

In 2024-25, there were 178,500 people who undertook digital platform work in the last 12 months, which is an 11% decrease from 2023-24. Almost 100,000 people undertook digital platform work in the last 4 weeks.

People who undertook digital platform work in the last 12 months were more likely to be:

  • Male (71%)
  • Aged 15-34 years (57%)
  • Born overseas (63%)

The most common digital platform work tasks undertaken in the last 12 months were delivering food or other goods (50%) and providing personal transport (39%). Less than half (39%) reported that digital platform work was their main job. Around 1 in 6 (16%) reported feeling unsafe while doing digital platform work in the last 4 weeks.

Note: Data for 2023-24 has been revised. See the Methodology page for more information.

Data downloads

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Working arrangements

Data files

Microdata and TableBuilder

August 2025 Characteristics of Employment data will be released in Tablebuilder and microdata in ABS DataLab (as a supplementary file for the Longitudinal Labour Force (LLFS) microdata) on 18 December 2025. For more information, refer to Microdata and TableBuilder: Characteristics of Employment.

Previous catalogue number

This release uses ABS catalogue number 6336.0.

Methodology

Characteristics of Employment, Australia methodology, August 2025