6254.0 - Career Experience, Australia, Nov 1998  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 23/07/1999   
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Changes Australian workers experience in their jobs


In November 1998, 77% of Australia's 7,006,600 employees had worked for their current employer for one year or more. Of these, most (95%) had experienced some change in their work in the previous 12 months, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The proportion of employees working for their current employer for one year or more was a slight increase from November 1996 (75%).

The most common changes reported were: more responsibility (38%), new, different or extra duties (36%) and changed hours (17%). Other changes include changed location, transferred and promoted (each at 7% to 9%). These results are similar to those obtained in 1996.

Other findings for employees who had been with their current employer for one year or more were:
  • Being given 'more responsibility' was the most common change reported by employees in all age groups except those aged 55 years and over.
  • Full-time employees were more likely to be promoted (8%) than part-time employees (2%). Similarly, younger employees were more likely to be promoted than older persons. Of employees aged 20-34, 11% had been promoted compared to just 2% for employees aged 55 and over.
  • The most common change for part-time employees was a 'change in hours'. More than one-quarter (27%) of part-time employees had a 'change in hours' compared to only 14% of full-time employees.
  • An estimated 44% received some kind of education or formal training. These employees had higher rates of promotion and job transfer than those not receiving any education or formal training.
  • Some 43% of employees had their work performance formally assessed by their employer.


There were 182,100 employees who had taken a break of six months or more from their current employment. Two-thirds of these were women, of whom 62% had taken a break from work for family reasons. More than half (51%) of women who had a break for family reasons had a child or children under 12 years of age.

Details are found in Career Experience, Australia, November 1998 (cat. no. 6254.0) available from ABS Bookshops. A summary of the publication may be found on this site. The ABS encourages media organisations with online news services to link to the summary. Please phone us if you need assistance to do this.