The Indigenous business and corporate ecosystem currently employs more than 135,000 people, with approximately 1 in 3 of those employees being Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders, the Indigenous Business and Corporation Snapshot 4.0 has found.
Released today, the report has been led by the Dilin Duwa Centre for Indigenous Business Leadership, University of Melbourne and developed in collaboration with co-authors from the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research (UoM) and the School of Economics at the University of Queensland.
The fourth iteration of the report highlights the vital role the Indigenous business ecosystem plays in increasing workforce participation and economic empowerment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
"The Indigenous corporate ecosystem isn't some niche group of small businesses," Professor Michelle Evans, report co-author and Director of the Dilin Duwa Centre for Indigenous Business Leadership, said.
"It employs more Australians than the Commonwealth Bank, NAB and Westpac combined."
Undertaken in partnership with the Australia Bureau of Statistics and with the participation of numerous Indigenous business data custodians, the Snapshot provides an overview of businesses and corporations listed on Indigenous registries, as well as all business owners self-identifying in the Australian Census and in Centrelink records.
This fourth iteration of the Indigenous Business Snapshot additionally highlights the vital effect of the national Indigenous Procurement Program (IPP), as well as areas in which policy could be addressed to maximise its efficacy.
Indigenous businesses as employers
Snapshot 4.0 data shows Indigenous businesses and corporations employ 20% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in the workforce, despite those businesses representing less than 1% of total firms trading in Australia.
"We found that across a diverse range of industries, Indigenous businesses and corporations are 12 times more likely to employ an Indigenous worker than non-Indigenous businesses," Professor Evans said.
The research also shows that Indigenous businesses are more likely to offer Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people full-time and/or higher-skilled positions than non-Indigenous businesses.
"Almost two-thirds of the jobs available in the ecosystem are in rural and remote areas, which means more opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to work while living on country."
As part of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, the federal government committed to increasing the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 25 to 64 in employment to 62 percent. Snapshot's data showed this measure at 55.7 per cent in 2021.
"If we're going to make up the 6.3 percentage points needed to close the gap on employment participation, we need to understand what the economy looks like for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders looking for work and encourage job creation in areas that meet the needs of the community
"For the first time, our snapshot provides that information," Professor Evans said.
The impact of the Indigenous Procurement Program
Snapshot 4.0 quantifies the total of Commonwealth procurement with Indigenous businesses and corporations, including contracts awarded through the IPP.
Since the Program's implementation, the average annual number of contracts won by Indigenous businesses and corporations rose from 3,589 a year (between 2007/8 and 2014/5) to 8,197 a year (2015/16 to 2018/19), with an accompanied 21% increase in annual spend over the same period.
"It is a big increase, but the Indigenous business and corporation ecosystem is by no means reliant on the IPP or government contracts. Value of contracts won through the IPP represents only 4% of the total revenue generated by the sector," report lead author, Associate Professor Cain Polidano said.
An estimated 82% of recipients received their first Commonwealth contract under the IPP.
Whilst more contracts are being awarded to Indigenous businesses and corporations under the Program, the Snapshot shows they're not necessarily being evenly divided across the sector, meaning the potential increases the IPP could bring to Indigenous employment are yet to be realised.
"60% of working-age Aboriginal and Torres Strait islanders live in rural and remote areas, but employment rates there are lower than in the city. If we're going to increase economic empowerment, this is where our efforts need to be focussed."
"Our data shows we can't rely on the IPP alone to close the employment gap."
