IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ozl/journl/v23y2020i2p189-209.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How might COVID-19 affect the Indigenous labour market?

Author

Listed:
  • Yonatan Dinku

    (Australian National University)

  • Boyd Hunter

    (Australian National University)

  • Francis Markham

    (Australian National University)

Abstract

Macroeconomic shocks and the policy responses to those shocks have significant effects on Australia’s economy. However, research into impacts of such shocks on the Indigenous labour force is limited. This paper explores how the COVID-19 crisis is likely to affect Indigenous labour market outcomes in future. While this paper briefly examines the immediate consequences of the COVID-19 crisis for Indigenous economic outcomes, it discusses the likely longer-run consequences for Indigenous employment at some length. The sectoral concentration of Indigenous employment, the relatively high levels of casual employment and the relatively young age profile of the Indigenous population may increase Indigenous exposure to significant economic risks. Indigenous business disproportionately employ Indigenous workers, but such businesses are concentrated in small to medium enterprises that may be sensitive to recessionary conditions, especially if economic uncertainty leads to a more generalised financial crisis involving liquidity constraints. Recent history demonstrates that Indigenous employment rates have increased only gradually in the long period of macroeconomic growth leading up to the pandemic. Historical disadvantage, discrimination and geographical constraints are important drivers of the dynamics of Indigenous labour market disadvantage that limit educational attainment and ability to find work. For those Indigenous people who secure employment, it can be difficult to retain employment. COVID-19 is likely to lead to an intense period of structural adjustment in the economy, and it is important for the Indigenous community and businesses to position themselves to take advantage of potential opportunities and minimise potential risks. The ongoing digital divide may be a particular problem for Indigenous people accessing work remotely. Poor access to the internet of a substantial number of Indigenous households may also exacerbate access to remote education. Such issues have important implications for addressing Indigenous disadvantage in future.

Suggested Citation

  • Yonatan Dinku & Boyd Hunter & Francis Markham, 2020. "How might COVID-19 affect the Indigenous labour market?," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 23(2), pages 189-209.
  • Handle: RePEc:ozl:journl:v:23:y:2020:i:2:p:189-209
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://ftprepec.drivehq.com/ozl/journl/downloads/AJLE232dinku.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael J. Leach, 2019. "N of 1," The Mathematical Intelligencer, Springer, vol. 41(4), pages 28-28, December.
    2. Boyd Hunter, 2015. "Whose business is it to employ Indigenous workers?," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 26(4), pages 631-651, December.
    3. Guyonne Kalb & Trinh Le & Boyd Hunter & Felix Leung, 2014. "Identifying Important Factors for Closing the Gap in Labour Force Status between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 90(291), pages 536-550, December.
    4. Boyd Hunter & Matthew Gray, 2012. "Indigenous Labour Supply following a Period of Strong Economic Growth," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 15(2), pages 141-159.
    5. Raymond Gani & Steve Leach, 2001. "Transmission potential of smallpox in contemporary populations," Nature, Nature, vol. 414(6865), pages 748-751, December.
    6. Boyd Hunter & Matthew Gray, 2012. "Indigenous Labour Supply following a Period of Strong Economic Growth," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 15(2), pages 141-159.
    7. Jon Altman & Anne Daly, 1992. "Do Fluctuations In The Australian Macroeconomy Influence Aboriginal Employment Status?," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 11(3), pages 32-48, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wichmann, Bruno & Wichmann, Roberta, 2022. "COVID-19 and Indigenous health in the Brazilian Amazon," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Amanda Shoebridge & Jeremy Buultjens & Lila Singh Peterson, 2012. "Indigenous Entrepreneurship In Northern Nsw, Australia," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 17(03), pages 1-31.
    2. 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.
    3. Hunter, Boyd & Howlett, Monica & Biddle, Nicholas, 2014. "Modelling Exposure to Risk of Experiencing Discrimination in the Context of Endogenous Ethnic Identification," IZA Discussion Papers 8040, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Yi Liu & Sandra Daff & Cecil Pearson, 2020. "Shaping Sustainable Employment and Social Consequences of Indigenous Australians in a Remote Region," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-16, October.
    5. Matthew Gray & Monica Howlett & Boyd Hunter, 2014. "Labour market outcomes for Indigenous Australians," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 25(3), pages 497-517, September.
    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. Seçil A Kaya Bahçe & Emel Memiş, 2014. "The impact of the economic crisis on joblessness in Turkey," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 25(1), pages 130-153, March.
    8. Eva K. Lee & Siddhartha Maheshwary & Jacquelyn Mason & William Glisson, 2006. "Large-Scale Dispensing for Emergency Response to Bioterrorism and Infectious-Disease Outbreak," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 36(6), pages 591-607, December.
    9. Margherita Borella & Mariacristina De Nardi & Fang Yang, 2023. "Are Marriage-Related Taxes and Social Security Benefits Holding Back Female Labour Supply?," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 90(1), pages 102-131.
    10. Caron, Joanie & Asselin, Hugo & Beaudoin, Jean-Michel, 2020. "Indigenous employees’ perceptions of the strategies used by mining employers to promote their recruitment, integration and retention," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    11. Mona Katrine Alberthe Holm & Filip Jansåker & Kim Oren Gradel & Rikke Thoft Nielsen & Christian Østergaard Andersen & Jens Otto Jarløv & Henrik Carl Schønheyder & Jenny Dahl Knudsen, 2021. "Decrease in All-Cause 30-Day Mortality after Bacteraemia over a 15-Year Period: A Population-Based Cohort Study in Denmark in 2000–2014," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-12, June.
    12. Skye Akbar & Rob Hallak, 2019. "Identifying Business Practices Promoting Sustainability in Aboriginal Tourism Enterprises in Remote Australia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-18, August.
    13. 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.
    14. Poon, Abner Weng Cheong & Cassaniti, Maria & Karan, Prasheela & Ow, Rosaleen, 2022. "Perceived needs and wellbeing of Vietnamese parents caring for children with disability," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    15. Kemeny, Thomas & Storper, Michael, 2020. "Superstar cities and left-behind places: disruptive innovation, labor demand, and interregional inequality," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 103312, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    16. Francesco Cappa & Stefano Franco & Federica Rosso, 2022. "Citizens and cities: Leveraging citizen science and big data for sustainable urban development," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(2), pages 648-667, February.
    17. Ron Ammar & Pitchumani Sivakumar & Gabor Jarai & John Ryan Thompson, 2019. "A robust data-driven genomic signature for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis with applications for translational model selection," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(4), pages 1-15, April.
    18. Victoria Chebotaeva & Paula A. Vasquez, 2023. "Erlang-Distributed SEIR Epidemic Models with Cross-Diffusion," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-18, May.
    19. Marcin Budzynski & Aneta Luczkiewicz & Jacek Szmaglinski, 2021. "Assessing the Risk in Urban Public Transport for Epidemiologic Factors," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-34, July.
    20. Roberto Benedetti & Federica Piersimoni & Giacomo Pignataro & Francesco Vidoli, 2020. "Identification of spatially constrained homogeneous clusters of COVID‐19 transmission in Italy," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(6), pages 1169-1187, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    COVID-19; discouraged workers; discrimination; social exclusion;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ozl:journl:v:23:y:2020:i:2:p:189-209. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sandie Rawnsley (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/becurau.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.