ONE in five, or 19% of Australian workers were casual employees in November 2011, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). This represents just under 2.2 million people.

The majority (62%) of employed people were employees with paid leave entitlements, while a further 9% were either independent contractors or a similar proportion were other business operators.

Females were more likely than males not to have paid leave entitlements (23% compared with 16%).

For both males and females, the occupation group with the highest proportion of employees with paid leave entitlements was managers (95% and 91% respectively). This was followed by professionals for both males and females (91% and 89% respectively).

The occupation group with the lowest proportion of males with paid leave entitlements was Labourers (56%). By comparison, the occupation group with the lowest proportion of females with paid leave entitlements was Sales workers (46%).