Short-term and long-term casual workers: how different are they?
Short-term casual workers – those casuals who have been employed in their current job for less than 12 months – constitute around 1 million workers and make-up 40% of Australia’s casual workforce.
The JobKeeper wage subsidy package announced on the 30th March excludes short-term casuals from eligibility. A worker that was employed on the 2nd March 2019 is therefore ineligible for the JobKeeper payment under the current criteria.
Given this exclusion, it’s important to understand who exactly these workers are and what arguments might exist for excluding them.