"Indigenous people are lazy and don't want to work"
The Indigenous jobless rate has fallen from 18.3 per cent in 2002, when the bureau of statistics first began its survey, to 14.3 per cent in 2006. The figures also show that, despite common stereotypes, the proportion of the Indigenous community working or looking for work is not much different to the national average.9 Between 1994 and 2002, there was an increase in the number of employed Indigenous people aged 15 years or over (from 36% to 46%). There was an increase in both mainstream and Community Development Employment Project scheme (CDEP) employment.10
Patterns of employment were different between remote and non-remote areas, with the majority of Indigenous people in remote areas having jobs with the CDEP scheme (63%). In non-remote areas 90% of employed Indigenous people had jobs in mainstream employment.11
The myth that Indigenous people are lazy and don’t want to work may arise in part from a lack of awareness of the factors contributing to high levels of unemployment. For example, in remote Aboriginal communities the unemployment rate is often a reflection of the low labour market,12 as well as the limited educational and training opportunities combined with lingering prejudice among non-Aboriginal employers. As Reconciliation Australia’s Fred Chaney states: ‘It’s time we stopped complaining about people not joining the real economy if we don’t extend to their towns the real jobs paid for by government everywhere else.’13
LINKS
- Aboriginal Employment Strategy
View the great work of the Aboriginal Employment Strategy (AES). The AES is a not-for-profit organisation that specializes in placing and mentoring Aboriginal people into employment. - Aboriginal Business and Employment Success Stories
- Indigenous Australian Entrepreneurs: Not all Community Organisations, Not all Outback
A discussion paper that examines 50 qualitative case studies of successful urban and provincial Indigenous Australian entrepreneurs who employ other people.
10 Australian Bureau of Statistics
11 Ibid.
12 Ticker report
13 Fred’s speech with Tom Calma, 4th July 2007 – press club. p. 6