Casual employees hardest hit by pandemic says ABS

The data also revealed that more than 40 per cent of employed people were regularly working from home during the first half of August, but it was primarily professionals who have benefited from these arrangements.

The ABS reports that in August 2021, there were 2.4 million casual employees,  equivalent to 22.5 per cent of all employees, down from 23.6 per cent of employees in May 2021 and 24.1 per cent in February 2020 before the pandemic. This shows the extent to which casual employment has been impacted during the pandemic. Casual jobs are more likely to be lower paid.

“In August 2021, 90 per cent of employees who earned the median wage of $1200 per week or more were entitled to paid sick leave or paid holiday leave. Over 50 per cent of these employees had access to paid parental leave,” Bjorn Jarvis, head of labour statistics at the ABS, said.

“For workers in the lowest 25 per cent of earners (less than $750 per week), 40 per cent had access to paid sick leave or paid holiday leave, and 20 per cent were entitled to paid parental leave.”

The impact of lockdowns and other restrictions were again evident in the distribution of earnings, with fewer lower paid workers in August 2021 than before the pandemic.

"In August 2021, the number of employed people who were earning less than $1,000 per week fell by almost half a million compared to pre-pandemic levels, from 4.5 million in August 2019 to just over 4 million in 2021,” Mr Jarvis said.

“This echoes what we saw last year, in August 2020, when lower paid workers and their jobs were also particularly affected by lockdowns and other restrictions.”

In contrast with the fall in the number of employees earning below $1,000 per week, the number of employees earning $1,000 or more per week increased between August 2019 and 2021, by 8 per cent. However, this was below the two-yearly growth rates seen before the pandemic (14 per cent between August 2017 and 2019, and 10 per cent between 2015 and 2017). 

In August 2021, median weekly earnings for employees was $1,200, up $50 from $1,150 in August 2020. Median weekly earnings increased at a faster rate for women than men over the past six years, in part because the proportion of women working full-time increased.

The state or territory with the highest median weekly earnings was the ACT at $1,500 per week, followed by the Northern Territory ($1,342), Western Australia ($1,250) and NSW ($1,249). The lowest were Tasmania ($1,000 per week) and South Australia ($1,100). 

Of the state capital cities, Sydney had the highest median weekly earnings ($1,300 per week), followed by Perth ($1,211), Melbourne ($1,200) and Brisbane ($1,199). 

Outside the capital cities, the highest median weekly earnings were in regional Western Australia ($1,347 per week), and the lowest was regional Tasmania ($1,000).

Managers had the highest median earnings ($1,850 per week) followed by professionals ($1,600). The lowest were sales workers ($674), community and personal service workers ($798), and labourers ($800).

Managers and professionals also had the highest hourly rates ($52.40 and $50.20), while sales workers and labourers (both $27) had the lowest hourly rate. 

Working from home continued to be more common in some occupations. Close to two-thirds (64 per cent) of managers and professionals were doing it regularly in August 2021, compared with around a quarter (25 per cent) of people across other occupations.

"Prior to the pandemic, the percentage of employed people working from home on a regular basis had been steadily increasing by around a percentage point every two years. Our latest data for August 2021, as the Delta period impacts were deepening, are showing an 8.4 percentage point jump to 40.6 per cent,” Mr Jarvis said.

“Interestingly, while the pandemic has seen a large shift in people working from home, there haven’t been similarly large changes in other working arrangements such as working Monday to Friday only. Working arrangements other than working from home have generally followed pre-pandemic trends.”