Ideas@TheCentre
Indigenous Australians denied employment by inept policies
Helen Hughes AO 1928 - 2013 |
05 March 2010
An analysis of 2006 Census data shows that nationwide, more than 60% of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders are working. They own, are buying or commercially renting homes and send their children to school and on to TAFEs and university. They participate in civil society like other Australians and yet retain pride in their ancestry. They only see bureaucrats once a year when they pay their taxes.
However, because of poor education and excessive welfare, 40% of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders are still welfare dependent, though they too mostly live in capital cities and country towns. Indigenous unemployment is three times non-Indigenous unemployment, and Indigenous non-participation in the labour force is even higher.
As Andrew Forrest’s Australian Employment Covenant program, which aims to place 50,000 Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders in jobs, has discovered, the problem is not finding jobs. Most Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders live within commuting distance of jobs. Many live in labour short areas, particularly in the Far North. But the jobs available are filled by non-Indigenous staff because Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders do not have basic literacy and numeracy, let alone trade or professional qualifications. High Indigenous unemployment and low labour force participation persists in spite of the availability of jobs. Current government policies are failing to deal with these issues despite large increases of funding and this will not chance until the policies become evidence based.
Emeritus Professor Helen Hughes is a Senior Research Fellow at The Centre for Independent studies. Indigenous Employment, Unemployment and Labour Force Participation: Facts for Evidence-Based Policies by Helen Hughes and Mark Hughes was released this week.
