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Indigenous unemployment falls

07
Apr '08

There have been improvements across many areas for Indigenous people according to an analysis of 2006 Census data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). However, there is much catching up still to occur, when compared with the non-Indigenous population.

Between 2001 and 2006, the Indigenous unemployment rate has fallen from 20% to 16%.

Combined with this, there have been increases in labour force participation and qualifications. More Indigenous people aged 15 years and over were in the labour force, with the participation rate increasing from 52% in 2001 to 55% in 2006.

The proportion of Indigenous people aged 15 years and over achieving qualifications is up from 20% in 2001 to 25% in 2006.

Despite these gains, unemployment for Indigenous Australians is more than three times the non-Indigenous unemployment rate (5%). Employment and education rates for non-Indigenous people are still substantially higher.

The new report includes national level analyses of the population structure and distribution, mobility, household composition, language, education, work, income and housing characteristics of Indigenous Australians.

Some of the findings include:
• The estimated resident Indigenous population was 517,174, or 2.5% of the total population (up from 2.4% in 2001) at 30 June 2006;
• The median age for Indigenous people was 21, compared with 37 for non-Indigenous people;
• Between 2001 and 2006,an overall pattern of migration away from more remote areas was observed for Indigenous Australians;
• More Indigenous households were buying their own home in 2006 (24% compared with 20% in 2001), and less were renting (63% compared with 66% in 2001);
• More than half (56%) of Indigenous Australians living in very remote areas spoke an Indigenous language at home, compared with 1% in major cities.

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