Increasing Indigenous employment rates

This paper provides an overview of the research evidence on why Indigenous Australians have much lower employment rates than non-Indigenous Australians, and which policies and programs have been most successful in increasing Indigenous employment. Sections include: current Commonwealth government policies; trends in Indigenous labour force status since 1994; recent history of Indigenous labour market policies and other major policies that impacted on Indigenous job seekers; what do we know about the reasons for the low employment rate of Indigenous Australians?; how Indigenous people find employment; effectiveness of labour market programs in increasing Indigenous employment rates; employer programs aimed at increasing Indigenous employment; and which policies and programs are most effective in increasing Indigenous employment rates? It features brief profiles on schemes such as The Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) Scheme and Rio Tinto's Indigenous Employment Program, and an analysis of recent trends in Indigenous employment.