Fewer full-time jobs, entitlements in Aust

New research shows fewer than half the people employed in Australia have full-time work or leave entitlements in a changing job landscape.

More workers are in part-time jobs than at any time in Australian history, with fewer than half having permanent full-time paid jobs with leave entitlements, new research shows.

The number of people in full-time jobs fell to 49.97 per cent in 2017 compared with 51.37 per cent in 2012, while the number in part-time work rose to 31.7 per cent from 29.7 over the five-year period, The Australian reports on Tuesday.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows full-time employment with paid leave and super is fast disappearing.

"Today, for the first time in recorded statistics, less than half of employed Australians work in a permanent full-time paid job with leave entitlements,'' economists Tanya Carney and Jim Stanford, who authored the research, said.

There was a jump in the number of people seeking more hours of employment, from 7.6 per cent to 9.1 per cent over the five years to 2017, while the average number of hours worked each month fell from 141 to 139.7.

"Less than half of Australians can imagine work with the sort of permanency and entitlements that we once took for granted,'' Dr Stanford said, warning many young people were internalising the fact that they might never have permanent jobs.