How many new jobs have been ‘created’ since the introduction of WorkChoices and of these (a) how many are categorized as (i) full-time, (ii) part-time or (iii) casual and what is the definition of each category; (b) how many are not categorised as full-time, part-time or casual and how are those positions categorised and defined; and (c) how many were filled by a person who (i) entered into a subsequently registered Australia Workplace Agreement, (ii) was employed in a position covered by a registered enterprise agreement or (iii) was employed under award conditions.

(a)   The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ monthly Labour Force publication indicates that employment increased by 276 600 (or 2.7 per cent) between March 2006 (when WorkChoices commenced) and March 2007 (latest available data). The increase in employment over this period comprised 265 400 full-time jobs and 11 200 part-time positions.         Data is not available on the number of casual jobs created since the introduction of WorkChoices.         The Australia Bureau of Statistics defines full-time workers as persons who usually work         35 hours or more per week (in all jobs) or those who, despite usually working less than 35 hours a week, actually worked 35 hours or more during the survey reference week.         Part-time workers are defined as persons who usually work less than 35 hours per week (in all jobs) and either did so during the survey reference week, or were not at work in the reference week.         The Australian Bureau of Statistics defines a casual employee as one who does not receive paid leave entitlements. It has more recently included in the definition those who are in receipt of one form of paid leave entitlements but are self-identifying as casuals.1 This does not include owner managers of incorporated businesses (who are classified separately) or those who have no leave entitlements but are self-identifying as not being casually employed.

(b)   All of the 276 600 jobs created since March 2006 have either been full-time or part-time jobs. As indicated in (a) above, data is not available on the number of casual jobs created since the introduction of WorkChoices.

(c)   These data are not available.

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1 Australian Bureau of Statistics Cat. No. 6102.0.55.001; Labour Statistics: Concepts, Sources and Methods (2006)