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Independent contractors

Changes in employment conditions and working arrangements in recent years have led to an increase in demand for data to support an understanding of these changes. To address this need, the ABS developed a survey topic on Contract Work and Labour Hire which was run in conjunction with the Forms of Employment Survey in November 2008.

An important aim of the survey topic is to measure the number and characteristics of independent contractors in Australia. Stakeholder consultation assisted in determining a framework to identify independent contractors as precisely as possible.

The identification of independent contractors necessitated some revisions to the conceptual basis of the Forms of Employment Survey. The independent contractors module will now be run annually with the Forms of Employment Survey, while the Labour Hire module will continue to be run three-yearly. Data from the 2008 survey will be released on 27 May 2009.

For more information please contact us on (02) 6252 7206 or email labour.statistics@abs.gov.au