The Determinants of Labour Force Status Among Indigenous Australians

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). Particular attention is given to geographic issues, revealing significant variations between the determinants of labour force status in non-remote and remote areas. The results also demonstrate the relevance of a wide range of factors in determining labour force status among Indigenous people, highlighting the complex array of issues which should be considered in attempts to increase employment.