Strictness of employment protection — Temporary contracts in Australia
Australia: Strictness of employment protection — Temporary contracts was 1.12 0-6 scale in 2025. ▲ Rising
Strictness of employment protection — Temporary contracts in Australia, 1985–2025
Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Measured in 0-6 scale.
Analysis
Australia recorded 1.12 0-6 scale for strictness of employment protection — temporary contracts in 2025. That is the highest value across all 41 years on record.
That represents a change of up 28.6% over ten years.
Over the whole period, strictness of employment protection — temporary contracts in Australia peaked at 1.12 0-6 scale in 2024 and was at its lowest, 0.875 0-6 scale, in 1985.
That places Australia 29th out of 41 countries with data for 2025, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 41 years of available data.
Strictness of employment protection — Temporary contracts in Australia, year by year
| Year | 0-6 scale | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1985 | 0.875 0-6 scale | — |
| 1986 | 0.875 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
| 1987 | 0.875 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
| 1988 | 0.875 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
| 1989 | 0.875 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
| 1990 | 0.875 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
| 1991 | 0.875 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
| 1992 | 0.875 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
| 1993 | 0.875 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
| 1994 | 0.875 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
| 1995 | 0.875 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
| 1996 | 0.875 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
| 1997 | 0.875 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
| 1998 | 0.875 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
| 1999 | 0.875 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
| 2000 | 0.875 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
| 2001 | 0.875 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
| 2002 | 0.875 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
| 2003 | 0.875 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
| 2004 | 0.875 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
| 2005 | 0.875 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
| 2006 | 0.875 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
| 2007 | 0.875 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
| 2008 | 0.875 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
| 2009 | 0.875 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
| 2010 | 0.875 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
| 2011 | 0.875 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
| 2012 | 0.875 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
| 2013 | 0.875 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
| 2014 | 0.875 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
| 2015 | 0.875 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
| 2016 | 0.875 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
| 2017 | 0.875 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
| 2018 | 0.875 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
| 2019 | 0.875 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
| 2020 | 0.875 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
| 2021 | 0.875 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
| 2022 | 0.875 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
| 2023 | 0.875 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
| 2024 | 1.12 0-6 scale | +28.6% |
| 2025 | 1.12 0-6 scale | +0.0% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 0.875 0-6 scale | 0.875 0-6 scale | 0.875 0-6 scale | 5 |
| 1990s | 0.875 0-6 scale | 0.875 0-6 scale | 0.875 0-6 scale | 10 |
| 2000s | 0.875 0-6 scale | 0.875 0-6 scale | 0.875 0-6 scale | 10 |
| 2010s | 0.875 0-6 scale | 0.875 0-6 scale | 0.875 0-6 scale | 10 |
| 2020s | 0.9583 0-6 scale | 0.875 0-6 scale | 1.12 0-6 scale | 6 |
Countries ranked near Australia
More work & labour data for Australia
- Population - Est. & Proj. — Total Population - Both sexes, annual 0.5057 % change on previous year (2100)
- Population - Est. & Proj. — Total Population - Male, annual growth 0.4907 % change on previous year (2100)
- Population - Est. & Proj. — Total Population - Female, annual growth 0.5202 % change on previous year (2100)
- Population - Est. & Proj. — Rural population, annual growth rate -0.9895 % change on previous year (2050)
- Population - Est. & Proj. — Urban population, annual growth rate 0.8931 % change on previous year (2050)
- Population - Est. & Proj. — Urban population 30,186 1000 No (2050)
- Population - Est. & Proj. — Rural population 3,001 1000 No (2050)
- Population - Est. & Proj. — Total Population - Female 21,642 1000 No (2100)
- Population - Est. & Proj. — Total Population - Male 21,502 1000 No (2100)
- Population - Est. & Proj. — Total Population - Both sexes 43,144 1000 No (2100)
Frequently asked questions
- What is strictness of employment protection — temporary contracts in Australia?
- Strictness of employment protection — temporary contracts in Australia was 1.12 0-6 scale in 2025, according to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
- What is the highest strictness of employment protection — temporary contracts recorded in Australia?
- The highest recorded value was 1.12 0-6 scale in 2024.
- What is the lowest strictness of employment protection — temporary contracts recorded in Australia?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.875 0-6 scale in 1985.
- How does Australia rank for strictness of employment protection — temporary contracts?
- Australia ranks 29th out of 41 countries with data for 2025.
- Is strictness of employment protection — temporary contracts rising or falling in Australia?
- Over the last ten years it is up 28.6%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Australia data come from?
- The figures come from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, published as part of Strictness of employment protection — Temporary contracts. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 41 observations, free to reuse under OECD Terms and Conditions (attribution required).
About this data
The OECD indicators of employment protection are synthetic indicators of the strictness of regulation on dismissals and the use of temporary contracts. For each year, indicators refer to regulation in force on the 1st of January. For more information and full methodology, see OECD Indicators of Employment Protection webpage Last data update: May 2022 OECD statistics contact: ELS.Contact@oecd.org