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The Determinants of Labour Force Status among Indigenous Australians

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  • Benjamin J. Stephens

    (University of Western Australia)

Abstract

It is well established that Indigenous Australians are heavily over-represented among Australia’s most disadvantaged citizens. An important component of this disadvantage is the limited and often unsuccessful engagement of Indigenous people with the labour market. To better understand this reality, the present paper explores the forces which influence the labour market status of Indigenous people. For this purpose, multinomial logit regression analysis is used to model labour force status as a function of factors relating to geography, demographic characteristics, education, health, culture, crime and housing issues. The analysis is conducted utilising the 2002 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey (NATSISS). The paper gives particular attention to geographic issues, revealing significant variations between the determinants of labour force status in non-remote and remote areas. The results demonstrate the relevance of a wide range of factors in determining the probability of employment among Indigenous people, highlighting the complex array of issues which should be considered in attempts to increase employment.

Suggested Citation

  • Benjamin J. Stephens, 2010. "The Determinants of Labour Force Status among Indigenous Australians," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 13(3), pages 287-312.
    • Handle: RePEc:ozl:journl:v:13:y:2010:i:3:p:287-312
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Sibthorpe, B. & Anderson, I. & Cunningham, J., 2001. "Self-assessed health among indigenous Australians: How valid is a global question?," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 91(10), pages 1660-1663.
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    4. Cain, Glen G, 1976. "The Challenge of Segmented Labor Market Theories to Orthodox Theory: A Survey," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 1215-1257, December.
    5. Alison Booth & Nick Carroll, 2005. "The Health Status of Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians," CEPR Discussion Papers 486, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    6. Nicholas Biddle & Boyd H. Hunter, 2006. "Some Methodological Issues for the 2002 NATSISS," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 9(1), pages 33-50, March.
    7. Boyd H. Hunter, 2007. "Arguing Over [The] Remote Control: Why Indigenous Policy Needs To Be Based On Evidence And Not Hyperbole," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 26(1), pages 44-63, March.
    8. Nicholas Biddle, 2006. "Does it pay for Indigenous youth to go to school? Variation in the predicted economic benefits of High School," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 9(2), pages 173-199, June.
    9. Benjamin J. Stephens, 2010. "The Determinants of Labour Force Status among Indigenous Australians," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 10-11, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    10. Crossley, Thomas F. & Kennedy, Steven, 2002. "The reliability of self-assessed health status," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 643-658, July.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Boyd Hunter & Guyonne Kalb & Trinh le, 2014. "Do Age and Experience Always Go Together? The Example of Indigenous Employment," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 17(2), pages 67-85.
    3. Elisa Birch, 2014. "The Determinants of Earnings for Indigenous Australian Workers," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 17(3), pages 211-232.
    4. Belayet Hossain & Laura Lamb, 2012. "The Impact of Human and Social Capital on Aboriginal Employment Income in Canada," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 31(4), pages 440-450, December.
    5. Boyd Hunter, 2015. "Whose business is it to employ Indigenous workers?," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 26(4), pages 631-651, December.
    6. Moshe Justman & Kyle Peyton, 2014. "Enforcing Compulsory Schooling by Linking Welfare Payments to School Attendance: Lessons from Australia’s Northern Territory," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2014n19, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    7. Guyonne Kalb & Trinh Le & Boyd Hunter & Felix Leung, 2012. "Decomposing Differences in Labour Force Status between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2012n20, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    8. Kyle Peyton & Moshe Justman, 2015. "Credible Enforcement of Compulsory Schooling by Linking Welfare Payments to School Attendance: Lessons from Australia’s Northern Territory," Working Papers 1512, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Department of Economics.
    9. Caron, Joanie & Asselin, Hugo & Beaudoin, Jean-Michel, 2019. "Attitudes and behaviors of mining sector employers towards the Indigenous workforce," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 108-117.
    10. Moshe Justman & Kyle Peyton, 2018. "Enforcing Compulsory Schooling through Credible Coercion: Lessons from Australia's Northern Territory Intervention," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 94(306), pages 223-238, September.
    11. Claire M. Mason & Haohui Chen & Shanae M. Burns & Scott Philip & Louisa Warren & Taylor Bamin & Cassandra Diamond & Ian Watson, 2024. "Improving Indigenous employment or entrenching labour market segregation? Using Artificial Intelligence and online job ads to evaluate employers’ Indigenous recruitment strategies," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 27(1), pages 73-100.
    12. Nicholas Biddle & Monica Howlett & Boyd Hunter & Yin Paradies, 2013. "Labour market and other discrimination facing Indigenous Australians," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 16(1), pages 91-113.
    13. Sheruni De Alwis & Nick Parr & Fei Guo, 2022. "The interacting effects of religion and birthplace on the labour market outcomes of Asian immigrants in Australia," Journal of Population Research, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 157-199, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Labour Economics: General; Economics of Minorities and Races; Non-labour Discrimination; Particular Labour Markets: General; Monopsony; Segmented Labour Markets;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J40 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - General
    • J42 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Monopsony; Segmented Labor Markets

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