Appendix 1: Temporary work definitions

Temporary employee

A temporary employee was defined in the survey as an employee whose job only lasts for a limited time or until the completion of a project. In practice, employees who answered 'no' to a question on whether their main job was permanent, or 'yes' to a question on whether their main job was seasonal, were classified as temporary. These questions were worded as follows:

'A permanent employee is guaranteed continuing work. They can stay in their job until they decide to leave or their employer makes them redundant. In your job, are you a permanent employee?'

'Is your job only available at certain times of the year, in other words, is it a seasonal job?'

A person who said 'yes' to the first question and 'yes' to the second was classified in the survey outputs as a temporary employee. Some seasonal workers have long-term relationships with a particular employer and return to the same job each season, and therefore may believe they have a guarantee of continuing work. Nevertheless, employees in seasonal jobs were classified as 'temporary' in the main survey outputs and in this paper because their job does not provide continuous work around the year.

Temporary employment agency worker

A temporary employment agency worker was defined in the survey as a temporary worker who is paid by, or through, a temporary employment agency and placed by this agency to perform work at the premises of a third party customer enterprise, that is, someone other than the business enterprise that pays their wage or salary.

In practice, employees who answered 'no' to the initial question on whether their main job was permanent, and 'yes' to the following question, were classified as temporary agency workers.

'Are you a temporary agency worker who is paid by, or through, an employment agency?'

Casual worker

A casual worker was defined in the survey as a temporary worker who only works when their employer asks them to, on an as-needed basis, whose work is typically done in short episodes. A casual worker may be asked to work a shift, for a few days or, less often, for several weeks at a time. Casual workers do not have any guarantee of regular ongoing work.

In practice, employees who answered 'no' to the initial question on whether their main job was permanent, 'no' to the question on whether they were a temporary agency worker, and 'yes' to the following question, were classified as casual workers.

'In this job, are you a casual worker, that is, you ONLY work when your employer asks you to work and you have no guarantee of regular work?'

Fixed term worker

A fixed term worker was defined in the survey as a temporary employee who is hired until a fixed date or until a project has been completed. This includes replacement workers who are employees contracted to temporarily replace another employee who is absent on leave.

Employees who answered 'no' to the initial question on whether their main job was permanent, 'no' to both the 'temporary agency' and 'casual' questions, and said 'yes' to at least one of the following questions, were classified as fixed term employees.

'In your current [main] job, are you working on a fixed-term contract, until a certain date?'

'Are you working just until a task or project is finished?'

'Were you hired to temporarily replace another worker?'

Seasonal worker

A seasonal job is a job that only exists at certain times of the year, because the work does not need to be done year round. Whether a job is seasonal is reasonably clear cut in some industries (such as fruit picking or meat processing). In others, it can be unclear. For example, people who are employed to work during school terms (and are not paid at other times of the year) are technically doing seasonal work, but they may not see themselves as seasonal workers. Classification within the Survey of Working Life relied on self definition.

The basis on which seasonal workers are employed varies. They can be employed on a casual basis (to work as required by the employer); hired to work continuously until a certain date; or hired to work continuously until a project has been finished. Knowing that someone works in a seasonal job does not fully describe their employment relationship.

Two measures of seasonal employment are used in this paper. The broadest measure, 'all seasonal employees' includes everyone who said 'yes' to the question on seasonal work, including people who can also be classified as casual, fixed term or agency workers:

'Is your job only available at certain times of the year, in other words, is it a seasonal job?'

A narrower measure, 'seasonal work not further defined' covers only the employees who said they worked in a seasonal job but did not provide any further information on the nature of their employment relationship that would allow them to be classified as a casual, fixed term or agency employee. The majority of people in this group initially said that their job was permanent, but were later reclassified as temporary employees.