The job still ahead: economic costs of continuing Indigenous employment disparity
Date
1998
Authors
Taylor, John
Hunter, Boyd
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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.
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economic costs, CDEP, Community Development Employment Projects, indigenous employment disparity
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