The influence of selected characteristics on Indigenous labour market outcomes

Supporting research project

Background

The Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision published estimates of Indigenous labour market participation adjusted for the effect of the age difference between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in its Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage Report: Key Indicators 2007.

That adjustment is undertaken because the age difference between the populations partly explains why Indigenous participation might be lower than non-Indigenous participation.

While a single factor, age, accounts for part of the participation rate difference, Indigenous and non-Indigenous people differ by factors other than age that might explain why labour market outcomes differ, such as educational outcomes.

This project aims to identify some of those factors and estimate their effect on Indigenous participation using the 2006 Census. The extent that those estimates differ from the actual participation rate will provide an indication of the contribution of non-modelled factors on participation, even though those factors cannot be identified.

As well as participation, the project will investigate other Indigenous labour market outcomes, including:

• unemployment
• hours worked
• income.

Objectives of the study

This project aims to quantitatively model selected Indigenous labour market outcomes to determine the extent to which specific modelled factors influence those outcomes and to determine the extent to which outcomes are not explained by modelled factors.

Estimates could be included in the Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage Report and may be subsequently documented in a Staff Working Paper.