2017-6-11 4714.

0 - National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey, 2014-15

4714.0NationalAboriginalandTorresStraitIslanderSocialSurvey,
201415
LatestISSUEReleasedat11:30AM(CANBERRATIME)28/04/2016

LABOURFORCECHARACTERISTICS

ItisimportanttodistinguishbetweenlabourforcedatacollectedintheNationalAboriginalandTorres
StraitIslanderSocialSurvey(NATSISS),andthemonthlylabourforcestatisticsthatarereleasedbythe
ABS.ThemonthlyLabourForceSurveyisAustralia'sofficialmeasureofunemployment,withdata
collectedmonthly(overaneightmonthperiod)fromasampleofthecivilianpopulationaged15years
andover.TheNATSISScollectedlabourforceinformationatapointintimefromasampleofthe
AboriginalandTorresStraitIslanderpopulationaged15yearsandover.Currently,estimatesforthe
AboriginalandTorresStraitIslanderpopulationarenotpublishedfromtheLabourForceSurvey
estimatesfromthe201415NATSISSarethemostrecentdataavailableforthispopulation.

Therearedifferencesintheclassificationoflabourforcestatusbetweenthe2008and201415
NATSISS.In2008,theCommunityDevelopmentEmploymentProjects(CDEP)schemeexisted,allowing
AboriginalandTorresStraitIslanderpeopleincommunitiestoexchangeunemploymentbenefitsfor
opportunitiestoworkortraininactivitieswhichweremanagedbyalocalAboriginalorTorresStrait
Islanderorganisation.FromJuly2013,CDEPwasphasedoutandreplacedbytheRemoteJobsand
CommunitiesProgram(RJCP),whichprovidedemploymentsupportservicesforpeoplelivinginremote
Australia.Inthe2008NATSISS,allCDEPparticipantswereclassifiedasemployed,whileinthe201415
NATSISS,participantsintheRJCPwereeitherclassifiedasunemployedornotinthelabourforce.

Thedifferenceintheclassificationoflabourforcestatusforparticipantsintheseprogramsisbasedon
paymentarrangements,andalignsthetreatmentoftheseprogramswithlabourforcedefinitions.People
workingunderCDEPreceivedwages,andwereconsideredtohaveanemployer/employeerelationship.
RJCPparticipantsreceivedincomesupportpaymentsandwerenotconsideredtohavean
employer/employeerelationship.RJCPparticipantswereclassifiedasunemployedornotinthelabour
force,dependingonwhetherornottheyhadbeenactivelylookingfor,andwereavailableto,work.

ItispossibletoestimatethenumberofAboriginalandTorresStraitIslanderpeopleaged15yearsand
overwhowereemployedin2008,excludingCDEPparticipants.However,itisnotpossibletodetermine
whetherthoseCDEPparticipantswouldhavebeenclassifiedasunemployed,ornotinthelabourforce,
astheywereconsideredtobeemployedandwerenotaskedwhethertheyhadbeenlookingfor,orwere
available,towork.Forthisreason,timeseriesdatapresentedinthischapterarelimitedtothe
employmenttopopulationratio.Understandingthedifferencesintheclassificationoflabourforcestatus
isessentialwhenmakingcomparisonsbetweenthelabourforcecharacteristicsoftheAboriginaland
TorresStraitIslanderpopulationbetween2008and201415.

FurtherinformationisprovidedinAppendix3releasedwiththispublication.

Labourforceparticipation

The201415NATSISSestimated257,400AboriginalandTorresStraitIslanderpeopleaged15years
andoverwereparticipatinginthelabourforce(thatis,theywereemployedorunemployed).This
representsalabourforceparticipationrateof58%.Malesweremorelikelythanfemalestobe
participatinginthelabourforce(65%comparedwith52%),aswerepeopleinnonremoteareas,
comparedwiththoseinremoteareas(61%and49%,respectively)(Table11).

Reflectingthenormalworkinglifecycle,thehighestlabourforceparticipationratewasforthoseaged
3544years(68%),andthelowestforthoseaged55yearsandover(33%).
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ThehighestlabourforceparticipationratesforAboriginalandTorresStraitIslanderpeoplewereinthe
AustralianCapitalTerritory(67%)andQueensland(63%),whiletheNorthernTerritory(47%)and
WesternAustralia(53%)hadthelowestparticipationrates(Table2).

Employment

Theemploymenttopopulationratioshowstheproportionofpeoplewithinapopulationwhoare
employed.In201415,lessthanhalf(46%)ofAboriginalandTorresStraitIslanderpeopleaged15years
andoverwereemployed(51%ofmalesand41%offemales).In2008,52%ofAboriginalandTorres
StraitIslanderpeopleaged15yearsandoverwereemployed,including5%whowereCDEP
participants.ExcludingCDEPparticipantsfromtheestimateofemployedpeopleprovidesamore
consistentcomparisonwiththe201415estimate,whichexcludesRJCPparticipants,givingan
employmenttopopulationratioof46%in2008.

AboriginalandTorresStraitIslandermalesweremorelikelythanfemalestobeemployed.Thispattern
wasevidentforallagegroups,althoughthedifferenceswerenotstatisticallysignificantforpeopleaged
1524and4554years(Figure6.1).

Figure6.1.Employmenttopopulationratio(a),byageandsex201415

Footnote(s):(a)AboriginalandTorresStraitIslanderpeople.(b)Thedifferencebetweenmaleandfemaledataisnotstatistically
significant.

Source(s):201415NationalAboriginalandTorresStraitIslanderSocialSurvey

AboriginalandTorresStraitIslanderpeoplelivinginnonremoteareasweremorelikelythanthosein
remoteareastobeemployed(49%comparedwith36%).Theemploymenttopopulationratioinmajor
citieswas55%,whileforinnerregionalandouterregionalareas,theemploymenttopopulationratios
were46%and42%,respectively(Table3).

Afteradjustingfordifferencesintheagestructureofthetwopopulations,AboriginalandTorresStrait
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Islanderpeopleaged15yearsandoverweresignificantlylesslikelythannonIndigenouspeopletobe
employed(rateratioof0.7)(Table1).

Fulltimeandparttimework

Peoplewhousuallywork35hoursormoreperweekareconsideredtobeworkingfulltime.In201415,
lessthanthreeinten(28%)AboriginalandTorresStraitIslanderpeopleaged15yearsandoverwere
workingfulltime,andafurther18%wereworkingparttime.Malesweremorethantwiceaslikelyas
femalestobeworkingfulltime(38%comparedwith18%),andwerelesslikelytobeworkingparttime
(14%comparedwith23%)(Table11).

AlargerproportionofAboriginalandTorresStraitIslanderpeoplelivinginnonremoteareaswere
workingfulltime(29%),comparedwith21%inremoteareas.

Innonremoteareas,almostthreequarters(74%)ofemployedmaleswereworkingfulltime,compared
witharoundtwothirds(68%)ofthoseinremoteareas.Amongemployedfemales,thoselivinginremote
areasweremorelikelytobeworkingfulltimethantheircounterpartsinnonremoteareas(52%
comparedwith43%)(Table6.1).

Table6.1.Fulltime/parttimeemploymentstatus(a),bysexandremoteness201415

Males Females

Nonremote Remote Nonremote Remote

(%) (%) (%) (%)

Employed,workingfull 74.4 68.0 43.5 51.8

time
Employed,workingpart 25.2 32.9 57.0 47.8
time

Totalemployed 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

persons15yearsand
over

(a)AboriginalandTorresStraitIslanderpeopleaged15yearsandoverwhowereemployed.
Source(s):201415NationalAboriginalandTorresStraitIslanderSocialSurvey.

Unemployment

Theunemploymentrateisthenumberofunemployedpeopleexpressedasaproportionofpeopleinthe
labourforce(employedplusunemployed).In201415,theunemploymentrateforAboriginalandTorres
StraitIslanderpeopleaged15yearsandoverwas20.6%(Table1andTable11).

UnemploymentratesforAboriginalandTorresStraitIslanderpeoplegenerallydecreasedwithage.
Unemploymentrateswerehighestamongpeopleaged1524years(31.8%)andlowestforthoseaged
55yearsandover(6.2%).Reflectingthetransitionfromschooltowork,therewerelargedifferencesin
unemploymentratesforbothmalesandfemales,betweenthe1524and2534yearagegroups.The
unemploymentrateformalesaged2534years(18.9%)was15percentagepointslowerthanformales
aged1524years(33.7%),whilethecomparableunemploymentratesforfemaleswere19.9%and
29.8%adifferenceof10percentagepoints(Figure6.2).

Figure6.2.Unemploymentrate(a)(b),byageandsex201415

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Footnote(s):(a)AboriginalandTorresStraitIslanderpeople.(b)Unemployedasaproportionofthelabourforce.(c)The
differencebetweenmaleandfemaledataisnotstatisticallysignificant.

Source(s):201415NationalAboriginalandTorresStraitIslanderSocialSurvey

TheunemploymentratewashigherforAboriginalandTorresStraitIslanderpeopleaged15yearsand
overinremoteareas(27.4%)thaninnonremoteareas(19.3%).Thiswaslargelyduetodifferencesin
theunemploymentratesformales(29.8%inremoteareascomparedwith19.1%innonremoteareas),
andtherelativelylowunemploymentrateinmajorcities(14.0%)(Table3).

ThestateswiththehighestunemploymentrateswereWesternAustralia(26.4%)andQueensland
(25.1%),whilethelowestunemploymentrateswereintheAustralianCapitalTerritory(9.2%)and
Tasmania(14.3%)(Table2).

TheunemploymentratesforAboriginalandTorresStraitIslanderpeoplewerehigherthanthosefornon
Indigenouspeople,inallagegroups.Thedifferencewaslargestforyoungpeopleaged1524years
(31.8%forAboriginalandTorresStraitIslanderpeople,comparedwith16.7%fornonIndigenous
people).Thesmallestdifferencewasforthoseaged55yearsandover(6.2%comparedwith3.0%)
(Figure6.3).

Figure6.3.Unemploymentrate(a),byageandIndigenousstatus201415

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Footnote(s):(a)Unemployedasaproportionofthelabourforce.

Source(s):201415NationalAboriginalandTorresStraitIslanderSocialSurvey,2014GeneralSocialSurvey

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