Contented Casuals in Inferior Jobs? Reassessing Casual Employment in Australia

Abstract

This paper argues that findings of contentment among casual employees are subject to both methodological and philosophical weaknesses. In place of subjective measures of job satisfaction, I argue that the quality of jobs should be directly assessed by objective criteria like remuneration. Following this, I fit earnings equations to the HILDA data and find that part-time casual employees earn only a modest premium over permanent full-time employees. When the loadings which casuals are paid are taken into account, I find that part-time casual employees are actually penalised by virtue of working as casuals. I conclude that casual jobs are inferior jobs, irrespective of the satisfaction levels of their incumbents.