High unemployment and lasting impacts from colonialism have caused low income in Aboriginal homes. Today, people often find that Aboriginal communities in non-rural areas live off welfare in crowded housing.
Reasons for the lower employment rates include lower levels of education, training and skill levels (human capital), poorer health, living in areas with fewer labour market opportunities, higher levels of arrest and interactions with the criminal justice system, discrimination, and lower levels of job retention .
Consistent with many previous studies, Indigenous Australians have, on average, lower total income than non-Indigenous Australians, with this difference being largest for those who are full-time employed. The difference is also larger for males compared to females.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people consistently earn lower average incomes from employment and private sources than non-Indigenous Australians, and are more likely to be living on low incomes (Osborne et al.
Background. Indigenous populations have poorer health outcomes compared to their non-Indigenous counterparts [1]. The experience of colonisation, and the long-term effects of being colonised, has caused inequalities in Indigenous health status, including physical, social, emotional, and mental health and wellbeing [2].
Aboriginal people are less likely to own their own homes largely due to the ongoing effects of colonisation and dispossession, which includes intergenerational poverty, marginalisation, and ongoing racial discrimination in employment and housing markets [84, 85].
shorter life expectancy. higher rates of infant mortality. poorer health. lower levels of education and employment.
The New South Wales Stolen Generations Reparations Scheme provides ex-gratia payments of $75,000 to living Stolen Generations survivors who were removed from their families and committed to the care of the New South Wales Aborigines Protection or Welfare Boards.
There is a long history of Indigenous workers being denied equal pay in Australia. Before 1966 it was common in many industries for Indigenous workers to often be paid around one-third of what non-Indigenous workers were paid. Many Indigenous workers were forced to work for rations.
Taking into account the $300 million allocated for Indigenous housing and the $177 million underspend in 2021–22, the October 2022–23 Budget provides $1.1 billion more than the March 2022–23 Budget for Indigenous Australians-related matters, averaging $4.2 billion per year over the forward estimates.
Indigenous Australians who are unemployed face a higher risk of poor health through higher rates of smoking, substance use and dietary behaviour (such as lower level of daily fruit consumption) compared with Indigenous Australians who are employed (Figure 4.2. 2).
Overview of Indigenous employment
Comparing the most recent data for people aged 15–64 with earlier surveys: between 2007–08 and 2018–19, the overall employment rate for Indigenous Australians dropped from 54% to 49%, while the rate for non-Indigenous Australians remained stable at roughly 76% (Figure 1)
Things such as poverty, poor health/nutrition, poor housing, dispossession of their traditional lands, low education level, high unemployment are some of many factors that contribute to a lower life expectancy to Aboriginals than any other indigenous communities across the world.
Employment is critical to the health and prosperity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. For all Australians, employment offers social and economic benefits that flow to individuals, families, communities and the economy as a whole.
OCCUPATION(a)
In the Major Cities, Indigenous people were most likely to be employed as Labourers (16%) and Clerical and Administrative Workers (16%). In contrast, Indigenous people employed in Very Remote areas were most likely to be Labourers (44%) and Community and Personal Service Workers (17%).
The Schoolkids Bonus is worth $410 for each child in primary school and $820 for each child in secondary school per year. Half is paid in January to help with back-to-school costs and half in July to help with mid-year and ongoing expenses.
Aboriginal background equity loading funds are provided to schools to ensure the performance of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students in NSW public schools matches or betters the broader student population, while maintaining cultural identity.
Many Aboriginal people who worked for white people did not receive their wages directly. Their bosses only gave them 'pocket money' while from 1897 to the late 1970s their wages were 'administered' for them by government or police authorities. In Western Australia wages were under "total government control" until 1968.
NSW Aboriginal people who were not a member of the Funeral fund are able to apply for a NSWALC funeral grant of up to $1000 to assist with covering funeral costs. Grants are paid directly to funeral service providers under this Community benefits scheme. This grant scheme is operated under strict criteria.
In the 1860s, Victoria became the first state to pass laws authorising Aboriginal children to be removed from their parents. Similar policies were later adopted by other states and territories – and by the federal government when it was established in the 1900s.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. 4.7 Multiple studies over the past 40 years have highlighted the severe and endemic nature of Aboriginal disadvantage in Australia.
The 2018–19 Health Survey showed that 55,770 Indigenous Australians of working age were unemployed. When expressed as a proportion of the labour force, the unemployment rate for Indigenous Australians was 3.8 times the rate for non‑Indigenous Australians (19% compared with 5%, respectively) (Table D2. 07.3).
The areas they inhabit are even more likely to lack infrastructure such as roads, schools and health posts. Indigenous peoples very often inhabit resourceful areas, which are exposed to logging, mining, oil-industry and other kinds of commercial exploitation.
The report finds that inadequate funding for homelessness services, limited crisis and transitional accommodation, the shortage of affordable housing, barriers to housing access and inadequate attention to tenancy sustainment create a revolving door of housing and homelessness for many Indigenous people.