Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research

Discussion Paper 108

Indigenous participation in labour market and training programs

J. Taylor and B. Hunter

No. 108/1996

Abstract

Despite the fact that large numbers of Indigenous people participate in labour market and training programs each year, little information has hitherto been publicly available regarding their characteristics and the nature of program involvement. Using information obtained from various administrative databases held by the Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs, this paper describes the changing distribution of Indigenous participation in labour market programs in recent years and provides details of the age, sex and location of program participants. Further insight into Indigenous participation in training courses is provided by data from the 1994 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Survey. Program participation is shown to have steadily risen in the 1990s with increased emphasis on clients in remote rural areas. Also noted is continuation of a well established trend towards an increasing share of program placements in mainstream programs. The significance of this is underscored by the finding that persons who had attended a training course were more likely to be employed in the mainstream labour market. Despite this, there still appears to be a mismatch between large and growing numbers of program participants and low net employment gain.

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