The job still ahead: economic costs of continuing Indigenous employment disparity

Abstract

There is now a substantial literature detailing the relatively low economic status of Indigenous Australians and examining underlying causes over the past 30 years (Altman and Nieuwenhuysen 1979; Fisk 1985; Miller 1985; Altman 1991; Taylor 1993; Daly 1995; Taylor and Altman 1997). Viewed collectively, these analyses reveal the continuing economic plight of Indigenous peoples. Also revealed, however, are labour market trends that run counter, at times, to the economic cycle. This is due, in part, to the emergence and substantial growth of the Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) scheme which operates increasingly as an employment program. It also reflects the consolidation of a distinct Indigenous segment in the labour market which has emerged with the growth of activities aimed at servicing the Indigenous population. Another common thread relates to the underlying determinants of poor employment outcomes. These have remained focused around the themes of locational disadvantage, poor human capital endowments and the historic legacy of exclusion from the mainstream provisions of the Australian state. Also related is the fact that the structural circumstances facing Indigenous communities, and policy makers, as they attempt to raise living standards have become increasingly diverse and locationally dispersed. This, in turn, leads to variable constraints and opportunities for economic development. Above all, however, a fundamental problem has been the failure of job growth to keep up with growth in the population of working age. On a conceptual level, as long as the census question on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander origins remains the sole means of comprehensively defining the Indigenous population, then it is likely that the numbers identified in this way will continue to steadily increase (Gray 1997; ABS 1998c). At a time of growing pressures for targeted service delivery that is cost-effective and based on demonstrated need, this prospect of an ever expanding population requires careful consideration.