Indigenous Self-Employed on the Rise - Report
19 August 2013 at 10:37 am
A new report by ANU’s Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research reveals that the number of indigenous self-employed people has increased and improvements to skills and policy changes have made it easier for indigenous entrepreneurs to set up successful businesses.
The report called Recent Growth in Indigenous Self Employed and Entrepreneurs is by Boyd Hunter a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research.
The report says the number of Indigenous self-employed has increased substantially both in absolute terms and as a proportion of Indigenous employment.
“While the options for Indigenous Australians to set up businesses have been historically constrained, the analysis has demonstrated that there has been some marked increase in the prevalence of Indigenous entrepreneurs in recent years, albeit improving from a low base,” the report said.
“Indigenous entrepreneurs have always been more likely to live in urban areas, although the numbers of Indigenous entrepreneurs in remote areas has increased marginally in recent years.
“Secondly, Indigenous business is generally less segregated from other Australian business than general employment statistics indicate, at least in urban areas.
“Only 14 per cent of non-remote Indigenous self-employed would have to change industry, which provides some indirect evidence that Indigenous businesses are ‘following the money’ in those areas. That is, Indigenous businesses in non-remote areas are not disproportionately engaged in industries that are less profitable for the rest of the Australian economy,” the report said.
The report says its findings point to a potentially significant role for Indigenous entrepreneurs in providing jobs for other Indigenous workers.
