Posted 02/08/2021 by Penny Vandenbroek
The release of the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS) Microdata: National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health, Australia, 2018–19 (NATSIH) makes available a range of non-health estimates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, such as work, income and education. This article provides a snapshot of employment by a range of characteristics, as well as some earlier data from a comparable ABS source. Figures in this article refer to people aged 15 to 74 years, unless otherwise specified.
Employment by age and sex
In 2018–19, just under half (47%) of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were employed. The employment rate is calculated by dividing working people, by the population in the same age group. Men were more likely than women to be working (51% compared to 43%, respectively), with differences across age ranges. There was no change in the overall employment rate when compared to 2012–13 (ABS, Microdata: Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey, Core Content – Risk Factors and Selected Health Conditions, 2012–13). There were, however, employment gains in some age groups, with people under 40 years more likely to be employed in 2018–19 than in 2012–13. Figure 1 depicts employment rates by sex for the most recent period. It highlights women’s lower employment rates across all groups, apart from the very youngest group.
Figure 1: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and employment rates by sex and age, 2018–19 (a)
(a) Employed people are those who worked in the week prior to the survey, in a job, operating a business, or on a farm, including those who worked in a family business without pay.
Source: ABS, Microdata: National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health, Australia, 2018–19 [TableBuilder], accessed 1 June 2021.
In terms of hours worked, in 2018–19 women were much more likely than men to be employed part-time (less than 35 hours per week), at 55% and 27% respectively.
Industry of employment—the ‘top five’
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were employed across a range of industries, with some differences in where men and women worked. Industry data is based on a person’s main job; that is, the one in which they usually worked the most hours per week. Common industries of employment included Retail Trade; Health Care and Social Assistance; and Public Administration and Safety.
In 2018–19, the industry with the largest share of men’s employment was Construction (25%), while women were most likely to be employed in Health Care and Social Assistance (22%). Figures 2 and 3 provide sex breakdowns for the top five industries at available time points.
Figure 2: top five industries of employment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men, 2012–13 and 2018–19 (b)
(b) In 2012–13, the top five included Mining and Transport, Postal and Warehousing but not Retail Trade. Health Care and Social Assistance held the equal fifth spot with Mining.
Where employed people lived
Figure 4 shows that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in major cities were more likely to be working full-time (35 hours or more per week), whereas those living in inner regional areas, such as Wangaratta or Gladstone, were more likely to be working part-time. The highest proportion of unemployed people (i.e. jobseekers) lived in outer regional areas, such as Gundagai or Pemberton. People who were not in the labour force (NILF) were those who did not do any paid work nor actively look for work. In outer regional, remote and very remote areas, the NILF group accounted for half (or more) of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. In 2019, non-Indigenous people living in very remote areas were four times more likely to be working full-time and were eight times less likely to be jobseekers than Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (ABS, Microdata: Education and Work, 2019 [TableBuilder]).[i]
Figure 4: labour force status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people by remoteness area,
2018–19 (c)
(c) Region of usual residence at the time of the survey.
Source: ABS, Microdata: National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health, Australia, 2018–19 [TableBuilder], accessed 1 June 2021.
Work programs in remote areas
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in remote and very remote areas were asked about their participation in the Community Development Program (CDP) (note this program is to be replaced in 2023). The program operates in remote Australia and requires recipients of the JobSeeker Payment to participate in a range of work-like activities (noting some exemptions apply). In 2018–19, the ABS estimated there were 100,700 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (aged 15 to 74 years) living in remote and very remote regions and of these, 13% were a CDP participant. Labour force status is attributed to a person by the ABS regardless of whether they are on the CDP. About four-in-six people (67%) on the CDP were classified NILF, one-in-six (17%) were jobseekers and the remainder (16%) were employed.
The CDP participation rate for this survey was lower than the administrative data would suggest. The NATSIH questionnaire introduced the employment questions as follows: ‘The next questions are about jobs, including CDP (Community Development Programme) work’. Survey respondents were then asked, ‘Last week, did you do any work at all in a job, business or farm?’ Subsequent questions for remote respondents asked if someone was in the CDP, but it is unclear whether people interpreted their participation as a paid job or otherwise. Care should therefore be taken when interpreting the data.
* With contribution by James Haughton, Social Policy Section
[i] The age range for the NATSIH has been adjusted to reflect the data source used for non-Indigenous people, with an upper age cut-off of 74 years. However, no age standardisation has been applied to reflect the differing population structures.