Intergenerational trauma affects Indigenous Australians in a number of profoundly significant ways, particularly when it comes to employment participation. The unemployment rate for Indigenous Australians is almost four times higher than the rate for non-Indigenous Australians, according to the most recent Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework summary report.

Improving employment rates of Indigenous Australians remains an ongoing challenge. While The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) committed to halving the gap in employment outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians by 2018, this target was not met. In fact, the proportion of Indigenous Australians who were employed was relatively unchanged between 2008 (48 per cent) and 2018-2019 (49 per cent) according to the above report.

Furthermore, the employment rate for Indigenous Australians of working age is only 35 per cent in very remote areas, compared to 59 per cent in major cities. This stark difference – and the wide range of complex and systemic problems it presents to Indigenous Australians in rural areas – has been witnessed first-hand by Brendan Thomas, a commercial property executive and Boorooberongal man from the Durug tribe.

In June 2021, he went on a six-month road trip with his family around Australia where he connected with Indigenous communities, and was shocked at the consistently low employment and education levels. During the road trip he discussed the plight facing Indigenous Australians with his wife, and how he could create pathways for Indigenous Australians into meaningful employment as a means to improving their lives and communities for generations to come.

You can read the full story here: https://www.businessthink.unsw.edu.au/articles/intergenerational-trauma-work-indigenous-australians