Contextual information
Employment by occupation
Dashboard snapshot: The data below are the most recent at the time of preparing the July 2023 report. Please go to the dashboard to access the current data.
Measure 1
Proportion of people aged 25-64 years who are employed, by occupation
Nationally in 2021, the occupation contributing most to the employment rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was community or personal service worker (reported by 9.5 per cent of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people), followed by professional (with 9.1 per cent). Since the 2016 baseline year the employment rate has increased for all occupations groups, with the largest increase for managers (1.3 percentage points).
Across states and territories in 2021, the occupations with the greatest variation in the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people reporting being employed were professional (ranging from 6.8 to 18.9 per cent) and managers (3.0 to 13.6 per cent) (figure SE8d.1).
| Description4 | 2016 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Managers | 4.2 | 5.5 |
| Professionals | 8.1 | 9.1 |
| Technicians and Trades Workers | 6.2 | 7.1 |
| Community and Personal Service Workers | 8.6 | 9.5 |
| Clerical and Administrative Workers | 6.9 | 7.1 |
| Sales Workers | 2.8 | 3.0 |
| Machinery Operators and Drivers | 5.4 | 5.6 |
| Labourers | 7.1 | 7.1 |
| Occupation inadequately described | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Occupation not stated | 0.7 | 0.8 |
Indicator data specifications
Related outcome: | Strong economic participation and development of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities. |
|---|---|
Related target: | By 2031, increase the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 25-64 who are employed to 62 per cent. |
Indicator: | Employment by occupation |
Measure: | The measure is defined as: Numerator — number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 25-64 years who are employed, by occupation Denominator — total number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the population aged 25-64 years and is presented as a percentage. |
Indicator established: | National Agreement on Closing the Gap July 2020 |
Latest dashboard update for the indicator: | 8 March 2023 |
Indicator type: | Contextual information |
Interpretation of change: | A high or increasing proportion employed in an occupation is desirable, if not accompanied by equivalent decreases in other occupation types. |
Data source: | Name: ABS Census of Population and Housing, Census Table Builder (Basic) Frequency: Five-yearly Documentation (links): www.abs.gov.au/census |
Data provider: | Provider name: Australian Bureau of Statistics Provider area: Census |
Baseline year: | 2016 |
Latest reporting period: | 2021 |
Disaggregations: | State and territory and Australia, by Indigenous status |
Computation: | Numerator divided by Denominator multiplied by 100 Counting rules Data are for all Australian residents enumerated in the Census that reported having a usual residence in Australia. Geographical variables are based on a person’s place of usual residence. Occupation variables are coded using the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations, 2013, Version 1.2 (cat. no. 1220.0) (ANZSCO) (at the major, 1 digit, level). The occupation code assigned to a response is based on the occupation title and tasks of the main job held during the week prior to Census night. Includes (both numerator and denominator):
Excludes (both numerator and denominator):
Extraction Census Table Builder (Basic) – Employment, Income and Education: INGP X Main ASGS (UR) X LFSP X AGE5P X OCCP (1 digit level) |
Data quality considerations: | Data values have been randomly adjusted using perturbation to avoid the release of confidential data. |
Future reporting: | Additional disaggregations required for future reporting:
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