Area level socioeconomic outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, 2016.
by Nicholas Biddle and Francis Markham, 22 December 2017

Although a person or family’s socioeconomic status does not define them or their contribution to society, there are many good reasons to measure socioeconomic outcomes. There are many, many people who have a considerable positive effect on those around them and the nation as a whole, despite having relatively low levels of education, low income, or at a particular point in time finding it difficult to gain and maintain paid employment. Nonetheless, socioeconomic status matters for a person’s life chances. Having a relatively high level of income protects people and communities from the risk of material deprivation, affords individuals and communities more autonomy, and enables a long-term focus when making decisions. Education can increase a person’s control over their own lives in a variety of ways. Quality and stable housing is important to everyday wellbeing and is a key predictor of health outcomes across the lifecourse. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) Australian population experience a greater degree of socioeconomic disadvantage than much of the rest of the Australian population across a range of measures. This relative disadvantage does not characterise Indigenous Australians or their role in Australia’s past, present and future. And there is much more to a ‘good life’ for Indigenous Australians than simply material resources and Western notions of socioeconomic status. However, almost all Indigenous community leaders argue for improvements in income, education, employment and housing for the people they represent.

Measuring socioeconomic outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians

Over a number of years, researchers in the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (CAEPR) have been examining the area-level and individual distribution of socioeconomic outcomes for the Indigenous population. Using a consistent methodology, we have examined outcomes for the 2001, 2006, and 2011 Censuses. This research has documented a number of stylised facts:

Read the full article at Austaxpolicy blog.