Higher turnover of governments, hiring freezes and public service efficiency dividends are driving up temporary, contract and casual employment in Canberra, with the ACT recording the highest share of contingent job vacancies in a new report.
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The latest Kinetic Super contingent job index found the ACT's rate of non-permanent, full time jobs was 40.5 per cent, relative to all job opportunities.
A consistent increase in the proportion of so-called contingent jobs was recorded in the territory and Western Australia since November 2013, while the lowest proportion was recorded in Tasmania at 22.8 per cent, followed by NSW at 25.6 per cent.
The figures followed a warning from the main public service union that non-ongoing jobs were bad for employees and government departments, who faced higher costs and more disruption.
Kinetic's survey of vacancies in digital advertisements, on job boards, employer career portals and recruitment company websites found non-permanent jobs had increased by 43 per cent nationally in the period.
The biggest increases of the jobs - considered a leading indicator of future employment trends - were found in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and the Northern Territory.
In the financial services and insurance sector there was a 50.7 per cent increase nationally between March and August 2017.
"The ACT's rising proportion, now over 40 per cent, reflects heavy weighting towards federal public sector employment," the report said.
"There is enormous pressure to reduce expenditure as well as shorter government tenure and short-term policy making."
The public sector nationally recorded a significant increase in its use of contingent employment, coming on the back of more than 15,000 public service job cuts since the election of the Abbott government in September 2013.
The rate rose from just over 30 per cent at the end of 2013, peaking at 39 per cent in February this year, before slipping back to 37.8 per cent in the months since.
Between June and August this year, demand for contract and temporary work positions in the public sector dropped 2.8 per cent nationally.
Last month's Australian Public Service Statistical Bulletin showed as of June 30, 16 per cent of employees worked on a part-time basis, steadily increasing from 12 per cent in June 2007.
At 23.7 per cent, women were more likely to be working on a part-time basis than men at 4.7 per cent.
The report follows warnings from Community and Public Sector Union that the ACT government was using insecure employment arrangements too frequently, limiting the ability of employees to plan for their futures, secure loans and save for retirement.
In the ACT public service, about 23.3 per cent of all employees are engaged on a non-going basis, classified as either temporary or casual, the Community and Public Sector Union told a parliamentary inquiry.
The proportion of insecure and non-ongoing employment has increased from 22.1 per cent in 2011-12, with the Capital Metro agency, Education and Health directorates and the Long Service Leave Authority recording the highest proportion of non-ongoing employees.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and employees with a disability were more likely to be employed on a non-ongoing basis.
"While flexibility and efficiency are often given as reasons by employers for engaging insecure workers, in the CPSU's experience any benefits of this sort tend to be at the expense of employee conditions," the union said.
"Poor workforce planning can also be a factor when the lack of an appropriate number of skilled staff produces a reliance on contracting or labour hire arrangements.
The union said non-ongoing employment arrangements can lead to higher costs to employers for recruitment and training, as well as premiums paid to labour hire companies and increased expenses from using contractors.
