OZschwitz: A century to close the Aboriginal health gap

KEVIN RUDD'S pledge to "close the gap" between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians on a range of socio-economic indicators could take more than 100 years to achieve, say Australian National University researchers.

Using census figures, researchers at the ANU's Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research examined how trends in the welfare and living standards of Aboriginal Australians compared to the non-indigenous population.

They found that if progress on closing the gap between the two populations continued at the rate of the past 35 years, it would take another 28 years for the Aboriginal unemployment rate to come into line with unemployment among non-Aboriginals. Lifting the share of Aborigines in the workforce to a level comparable with the rest of the population would take more than 100 years.

Other indicators where it would take 100 years or more to close the gap included male life expectancy, personal and household incomes, household sizes and home ownership rates. Bringing female life expectancy for Aborigines and non-Aborigines into line would take 47 years.

The outlook for closing the gap on education outcomes was more positive.

The team of researchers, headed by Professor Jon Altman, found it would take between two and 14 years to get the proportion of Aborigines who had never attended school into line with the comparable figure for non-Aborigines.

[url=KEVIN RUDD'S pledge to "close the gap" between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians on a range of socio-economic indicators could take more than 100 years to achieve, say Australian National University researchers.

Using census figures, researchers at the ANU's Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research examined how trends in the welfare and living standards of Aboriginal Australians compared to the non-indigenous population.

They found that if progress on closing the gap between the two populations continued at the rate of the past 35 years, it would take another 28 years for the Aboriginal unemployment rate to come into line with unemployment among non-Aboriginals. Lifting the share of Aborigines in the workforce to a level comparable with the rest of the population would take more than 100 years.

Other indicators where it would take 100 years or more to close the gap included male life expectancy, personal and household incomes, household sizes and home ownership rates. Bringing female life expectancy for Aborigines and non-Aborigines into line would take 47 years.

The outlook for closing the gap on education outcomes was more positive.

The team of researchers, headed by Professor Jon Altman, found it would take between two and 14 years to get the proportion of Aborigines who had never attended school into line with the comparable figure for non-Aborigines.]LNK[/url]

OZschwitz: A century to close the Aboriginal health gap

OZschwitz: A century to close the Aboriginal health gap

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