i think it depends on the nature of the position, and/or the organization.I didn't know places actually called references.
i've had, perhaps, 6 or 7 career jobs in my time and every one of them called my references. in that environment, i've hired a handful of people and i called references every time.
in the ski school where i worked for 8 years, i hired around 50 full time and part time seasonal workers every season and we called references on all of them.
alasdair