Selected social indicators
Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet overviews: selected social indicators
By any social indicator, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are the most disadvantaged sub-population in Australia (O'Donoghue 1992). Indigenous disadvantage results from the history of colonisation and dispossession (Commonwealth Department of Health and Family Services 1997) and is reflected today in measures of education, employment, income and housing. The National Aboriginal Health Strategy (1989) pointed out that Indigenous people are poorer than other Australians, experience greater unemployment, have lower educational attainment, live in poorer housing and have lower access to basic facilities (such as clean water, sewerage and waste disposal) (National Aboriginal Health Strategy Working Party 1989).
Education
The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody noted that Indigenous education is characterised generally by lower levels of success, lower levels of achievement, lower retention rates and inadequate education. It felt that low levels of attendance and low retention rates were a reflection of the widely held Indigenous perception that the education system is irrelevant and inappropriate to their needs (Aboriginal Affairs Department of Western Australia 1996).
According to the 1996 census (Australian Bureau of Statistics 1998), almost 3 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years or more had never attended school, compared with less than 1 per cent of the total population of Australia. Of those people who stated the age at which they left school (as with all collections of this type, not all respondents answer all questions), 40 per cent of Indigenous Australians and 34 per cent of all Australians reported leaving school before the age of 16 years.
The proportion of the Indigenous population attending a university or other tertiary institution was 1.6 per cent, less than half that of the total population (3.6 per cent). Among those who had left school, over 34 per cent of the total Australian population had some form of post secondary school qualification (including degrees, diplomas, and trade or basic qualifications), compared with less than 14 per cent of Indigenous Australians.
Employment status
The contraction in employment opportunities during the last two decades has been felt keenly by the Indigenous population (Gray and Tesfaghiorghis 1991). Factors that contribute to the current poor employment status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians include: the disappearance of employment in primary and pastoral industries in which Indigenous people previously participated strongly (Gray and Tesfaghiorghis 1991); a reluctance by non-Indigenous employers to employ Indigenous people; and lower educational levels (Aboriginal Affairs Department of Western Australia 1996).
From information collected by the census (Australian Bureau of Statistics 1998) (which uses different procedures to those used in the compilation of the standard employment indicators), almost 25 per cent of Indigenous males aged 15 years or over were unemployed, as were 20 per cent of Indigenous females. These levels - influenced to some degree by the Community Development Employment Projects scheme (CDEP - a scheme which offers unemployed Indigenous Australians the opportunity of working in community-managed projects and enterprises if they forego unemployment-related social security entitlements), which operates predominantly in rural and remote areas - are more than double those for the total population: 10 per cent of males and 8 per cent of females were unemployed.
The CDEP is the main source of employment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in rural areas. Of those Indigenous people in rural areas who had income from employment, 53 per cent derived it from the CDEP (Australian Bureau of Statistics 1996). The level of unemployment within the Indigenous population varies between States and Territories, and between city and rural areas.
Just under a quarter of Indigenous Australians were employed in unskilled occupations ('labourer and related workers' in the Australian Standard Classification of Occupations (ASCO)) and a little over an eighth as managers or professionals (ASCO 'managers and administrators' and 'professionals'). These proportions are the reverse of those for the total Australian population, with more than a quarter being employed as managers or professionals, and less than one-tenth in unskilled occupations (Australian Bureau of Statistics 1998).
Income
The low levels of education, high rates of unemployment and the greater employment in unskilled occupations result in a substantially lower economic status for Indigenous than other Australians. In 1994, 59 per cent of Indigenous people received a gross annual income less than $12,000, compared with 46 per cent of the total population. Indigenous average income at that time was $14,000, 30 per cent less than the average of $20,000 for the total population (Australian Bureau of Statistics 1996).
Similar levels were reported in the 1996 census data (Australian Bureau of Statistics 1998). The median income for people in the 'prime working age' group, 25-44 years, was almost 40 per cent lower ($265) for Indigenous people than the total population ($437). Of people aged 15 years or older, 8 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people reported having an individual income of $600 a week or more, compared with 21 per cent of the total Australian population.
Recent census estimates of the contribution of social security payments to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander incomes are not available, but data from the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Survey, 1994 (Australian Bureau of Statistics 1996) reveal that government payments were the main source of income for 55 per cent of Indigenous people.
The prospects for Indigenous employment and income are not bright. With the restructuring of the Australian economy, 'labour markets will be tight and those, like many Indigenous people, with few skills, little work experience and locational disadvantage will have difficulty finding gainful employment' (Altman and Sanders 1991 p.17). As a result, the economic disadvantage and welfare dependency of many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians is likely to continue.
Housing and physical environment
The level and standard of current housing is a clear expression of Indigenous disadvantage, not only in remote areas, but also in long-settled parts of Australia. The sub-standard living conditions are generally characterised by overcrowding, inadequate water and washing facilities, poor sanitation and sewage disposal, limited food storage and sub-optimal food preparation facilities.
In 1994, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Survey revealed that 70 per cent of dwellings occupied by Indigenous households were rented (compared with 28 per cent of all dwellings in Australia), and 23 per cent of Indigenous people living in rented dwellings shared with eight or more other residents (Australian Bureau of Statistics 1996). The 1996 census found that the average number of people per household was higher for Indigenous than for other households: 3.7 people per household compared with 2.7 (Australian Bureau of Statistics 1998).
In 1994, 12 per cent of all dwellings occupied by Indigenous households were in need of repair, 11 per cent of dwellings did not have enough bedrooms and 10 per cent did not have enough living area. Additionally, 6 per cent of dwellings had inadequate bathing facilities, 6 per cent did not have sufficient insulation or ventilation (Australian Bureau of Statistics 1996), and 1 in 10 Indigenous people reported that their water, toilet or electricity had broken down in the previous four weeks. Mainly in remote areas of Australia about 1 in 5 people had experienced these problems (Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 1997). The survey found that almost all dwellings occupied by Indigenous households in capital cities and other urban areas had electricity and/or gas connected, toilet, running water and bathroom/shower facilities. However, 8 per cent of rural dwellings did not have electricity and/or gas connected, 8per cent did not have running water, 9 per cent did not have a toilet and 11 per cent did not have a bathroom/shower (Australian Bureau of Statistics 1996).
An assessment of the housing need of Indigenous Australians using normative indicators derived from the 1991 Census of Population and Housing noted that there were clear differences in the level of disadvantage in housing between regional populations. While Indigenous people living in urban areas were clearly disadvantaged in their housing status relative to non-Indigenous people, they were significantly less disadvantaged than the rural Indigenous population (Jones 1994).
The disadvantages experienced by the rural Indigenous population were exemplified in a 1994-95 survey of environmental health conditions in 155 remote and rural Aboriginal communities in Western Australia. Environmental health problems were prevalent and often serious. Over one-third of the communities had water supply or sanitation problems, 70 per cent had housing problems (with overcrowding and substandard housing being commonplace) 36 per cent had difficulties with waste water disposal, 37 per cent had no rubbish disposal, and in others the methods of disposal were often inadequate. Pests were problems in 44 per cent of communities and the hygiene and maintenance of communal toilets was unacceptable in 25 per cent (Gracey, Williams et al. 1997).
As part of the National Aboriginal Health Strategy, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) and the Australian Construction Services initiated in 1992 a two-stage survey of Indigenous housing and community infrastructure needs (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission and the Australian Construction Services 1993). The first stage addressed the needs of around 175,000 Indigenous people living in rural and remote parts of the country, and found that almost 10,000 family units (including sole parent and extended families) living in these areas - more than 40,000 Indigenous people - required housing. As well, 7,000 of the 12,000 houses owned and/or administered by Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander organisations required repairs or replacement. The estimated cost of providing the required houses was $1,088 million, with a further $280 million needed for repairs.
As well as assessing the housing needs of Indigenous people living in rural and remote areas, the stage one survey also examined the availability of a number of essential services in discrete Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities (including homelands/outstations). For the more than 88,000 people living in discrete communities, the survey found that:
- more than 14,600 people did not have access to water which complied with NHMRC guidelines for human consumption
- around 3,600 people lived in communities without a sewage disposal system, and almost 12,300 lived in communities where the system did not work satisfactorily
- lmost 6,800 people did not have access to a garbage collection service
- more than 8,400 people lived in communities without electricity supply.
References
Aboriginal Affairs Department of Western Australia (1996). "Socio-economic indicators of Aboriginal people." Aboriginal Affairs Department of Western Australia Bulletin 6.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission and the Australian Construction Services (1993). 1992 National housing and community infrastructure needs survey Final report Stage 1: Australia, States and Territories. Canberra, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission.
Altman, J. and W. Sanders (1991). From exclusion to dependence: Aborigines and the welfare state in Australia.. Canberra, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, Australian National University.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (1996). Housing conditions of Indigenous people. Australian Social Trends. Canberra, Australian Bureau of Statistics. Catalogue No. 4102.0: 142-145.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (1996). Income of Indigenous people. Australian Social Trends 1996. Canberra, Australian Bureau of Statistics. Catalogue No. 4102.0: 121-125.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (1998). 1996 Census of population and housing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Canberra, Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (1997). The health and welfare of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Canberra, A joint program of the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
Commonwealth Department of Health and Family Services (1997). Submission from the Commonwealth Department of Health and Family Services to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Family and Community Affairs Inquiry into Indigenous health. Inquiry into Indigenous health: submissions. Volume 1, House of Representatives Standing Committee on Family and Community Affairs: 215-316.
Gracey, M., P. Williams, et al. (1997). "Environmental health conditions in remote and rural Aboriginal communities in Western Australia." Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health 21(5): 511-518.
Gray, A. and H. Tesfaghiorghis (1991). Social indicators of the Aboriginal population of Australia. Canberra, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, Australian National University.
Jones, R. (1994). The housing need of Indigenous Australians, 1991. Canberra, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, Australian National University.
National Aboriginal Health Strategy Working Party (1989). National Aboriginal Health Strategy. Canberra, Department of Aboriginal Affairs.
O'Donoghue, L. (1992). "A vision for the future." Impact October: 11-13.
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