Andrew Norton has a post up today about casualisation of the labour force, and how it might affect perceptions of work security
Before having a child, I worked in permanent or longish (three year) contract public servant type positions. I left my job after Sage was born because we moved cities, in part because we were unable to afford to stay in Sydney on one wage for any length of time. I started work again when Sage was 18 months old; for the last 2 1/2 years I’ve worked a string of casual, short-term or contract positions, mostly part time. During that time my partner’s had two jobs, with only a couple of days in between, so things could be a lot worse.
I’ve appreciated being able to do interesting and professional work as a part time – and I’ve been very lucky in that respect. But we’ve had one week’s holiday in that three and half years, because in a short term job it’s can be difficult to ask and difficult to receive approval for leave. Particularly if you need time off for illness/surgery/child illness as I have. (And yes, I’m shitty because we were going to have a holiday next week and the friend we’d planned to visit has to go overseas for work.)
Andrew asks whether “the new industrial relations laws will contribute to job insecurity in any significant way“. I would think so, what with the getting sacked more easily part. I also think there might be a lowering of expectations, particularly amongst younger workers – I know my parents think the kind of “career path” I’ve had to be pretty frightening. He also links to a Roy Morgan survey finding last year that people have the highest level of perceived job safety since 1975, when they began asking the question. I don’t worry about losing my job, but that’s largely a function of my partner having secure work. I do worry about getting another one when the inevitible happens and the economy falters (and after this other baby I’m growing, of course).
