Shepparton Regional Indigenous Employment & Development Strategies

November 2002 saw the publication of ‘Shepparton Regional Indigenous Community Employment & Development Strategies’ written by Dr. Katrina Alford B.A, B. Ed postgrad, Ph.D. This project, initiated in 1999 and funded under the Commonwealth Regional Assistance Programme (RAP), was the first attempt to:

	Analyse the region’s Indigenous employment, unemployment, education and skill levels and gaps,
	Identify paths to entry into mainstream employment, including in skilled and professional occupations and associated vocational educational and training opportunities, and
	Identify links with industry employers, including specific firms and sectors that have agreed to initiate or expand Indigenous employment.

The report provides a rigorous, quantitative analysis of the extent of Indigenous employment and unemployment, education, training and skills relevant to work. It also identifies broader social issues, notably housing, that require urgent attention and reform and makes 36 specific recommendations to reverse the ‘vicious cycle’ of disadvantage and demotivation affecting the Indigenous community in this and other regions of Australia .

The report breaks new ground in establishing more reliable population and labour force estimates than official measures relied upon for policy planning and funding of Indigenous services. Official census counts under-enumerate the Region’s Indigenous population by between 45% and 64%.

It concluded that the Region’s labour market is effectively a dual labour market – with a large mainstream market and a small Indigenous ‘enclave’ largely dissociated from it. It established that real indigenous unemployment rates of between 75% and 78% (665 – 68% including CDEP) are between 9 and 10 times higher than among the total working population in this economically established and relatively prosperous region of Australia.