Indigenous peoples in Australia face disproportionate rates of financial hardship and psychological distress. Drawing on data from the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children and employing multivariate regression analysis techniques, this study identified a strong and independent positive association between financial hardship and psychological distress, evident in both immediate and cumulative impacts. Notably, perceived financial hardship-characterised by concerns and anxiety about money-was found to have psychological impacts comparable to those of actual financial hardship-defined by the inability to meet basic financial needs. The findings revealed a disproportionately larger effect of financial hardship on primary carers compared to young people, suggesting that carers play a critical buffering role. This protective effect is further supported by evidence indicating that the psychological distress experienced by young people is partially mediated by the distress of their primary carers. Conversely, the study also identified positive child–mother relationships and good communities-particularly those where young people perceive there are many fun things to do-as important protective factors that mitigate the adverse psychological effects of financial hardship. Overall, the findings underscore the systemic and intergenerational nature of financial stress within Indigenous families and highlight the urgent need for holistic, culturally responsive interventions that foster resilience at both family and community levels.

Indigenous Australians experience disproportionately high rates of both food insecurity and poor mental wellbeing. However, little is known about how these issues intersect across different geographic contexts. Using data from the 2018–19 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey, this study examines the relationship between food insecurity and mental wellbeing among Indigenous Australians living in remote and non-remote areas. Mental wellbeing is assessed using three indicators: psychological distress, diagnosed mental health conditions, and emotional vitality. Food insecurity is measured as running out of food and being unable to afford to buy more. Our findings reveal a complex relationship between food insecurity, mental wellbeing, and location. Indigenous Australians living in food-insecure households are significantly more likely to experience psychological distress and diagnosed mental health conditions, and less likely to report high emotional vitality. While food insecurity is substantially more prevalent in remote areas than in non-remote areas, its association with adverse mental wellbeing outcomes is stronger in non-remote settings. This pattern persists despite higher levels of socioeconomic disadvantage in remote areas, suggesting that factors beyond material circumstances may shape the relationship between food insecurity and mental wellbeing. We argue that factors such as stronger connections to culture and country and greater access to traditional food systems, and stronger community networks may provide important sources of resilience that help buffer adverse mental health impacts of food insecurity. These findings highlight the importance of culturally informed approaches to food security and mental wellbeing policy and underscore the need to strengthen cultural resources and community resilience, particularly for Indigenous Australians living in non-remote areas.

By combining data from the 2018-2019 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey and 2021 Census using small-area estimation techniques, this study estimates the prevalence of food insecurity among Indigenous households at the Statistical Area 2 level across New South Wales. Results from logistic regressions show a statistically significant associations between household food insecurity and income, financial resilience, household size, housing tenure, and remoteness. Notably, we found that access to financial resources is the primary diving factor of food insecurity instead of access to grocery stores. The research reveals that going without food is more prevalent in urban and regional areas than in remote and very remote areas.

A key factor that affects the efficiency of investments in human capital is whether people are employed in jobs in which their skills (education) match those required by the job. This paper provides the first longitudinal analysis of educational mismatch among Indigenous Australians in comparison with their non-Indigenous counterparts. Employed Indigenous Australians are substantially more likely to be under-educated and less likely to be over-educated or well-matched than non-Indigenous workers. Over-educated Indigenous workers transition more readily into well-matched or under-educated positions than their non-Indigenous counterparts. Over ten years, income growth was highest for well-matched workers, followed by the under-educated, with the over-educated experiencing the smallest gains. Indigenous workers who were under-educated or well-matched achieved substantially larger income increases over five and ten years than comparable non-Indigenous workers. The higher under-education rate among Indigenous employees may reflect affirmative action policies promoting workers beyond typical educational requirements, or employment practices that value the cultural knowledge and competencies of Indigenous people not captured by formal education credentials.

This article contributes to a First Nations-led research agenda exploring risk and protective factors influencing suicidality and self-harm among secondary-aged Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth. Using Wave 14 (2021) data from Footprints in Time: The Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children, this article focuses on relationships between factors of the school environment and self-harm, suicidal thoughts, and suicide attempts among 906 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Study Youth aged 13–18. We found reduced odds of self-harm among students who reported supportive adults (Odds Ratio: 0.65, 95

PURPOSE:Well-being is a complex, multi-dimensional, dynamic, and evolving concept, covering social, economic, health, cultural and spiritual dimensions of human living, and often used synonymously with happiness, life satisfaction, prosperity, and quality of life. We review the existing key wellbeing frameworks applied in Australia both for the wider public and Indigenous peoples. The aim is to provide a comprehensive overview of various applied frameworks, along with a critical analysis of domains or dimensions comprising those frameworks, and to analyse the role of nature in those frameworks.METHODOLOGY:We conducted a critical analysis of the main frameworks applied in Australia to date to measure the well-being of the mainstream (mainly non-Indigenous) and Indigenous populations. This study is particularly timely given the Australian Government's interest in revising the well-being frameworks as mentioned in the Government "Measuring What Matters" statement.RESULTS:The existing well-being frameworks in Australia either overlook or hardly consider the role of nature and its services which are important to support human well-being. Likewise, for Indigenous peoples "Country" (Indigenous clan land) is vital for their well-being as their living is imbued with "Country". The role of nature/"Country" needs to be considered in revising the well-being frameworks, indicators and measures to inform and develop appropriate policies and programs in Australia.CONCLUSION:To develop appropriate welfare policies and programs for achieving socio-economic and other wellbeing outcomes, it is essential to evolve and conceptualize wellbeing frameworks (and related indicators and measures) in line with people's contemporary values, particularly considering the role of nature and its services.

The 2016 Australian census data showed that one in 10 Australians aged 15-24 years was not in education, employment or training (NEET). The assumption that NEET harms wellbeing underpins theoretical and policy discourses on youth disengagement from work and study. However, despite the extensive literature on the profiles of Australian NEET youth, the evidence on the consequences of NEET for future labour force participation and career progression is limited. Using data from the Australian Census Longitudinal Dataset, this study shows that a spell of NEET at ages 15-24 years is significantly associated with reduced full-time employment prospects and increased risks of being out of the labour force at ages 25-34 years. Even if NEETs find a job later in life, they are more likely to end up in low-skilled occupations. Our findings highlight the importance of distinguishing between full-time and part-time employment while measuring long-term impacts of NEET status. We also showed that some NEETs face higher future labour market risks than others.

This research examines relationships between social and emotional wellbeing in various language ecology contexts. Previous studies have shown a correlation between speaking an Indigenous language and improved social and emotional wellbeing among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples within the population nationally. This study considers the rich variety of contemporary Indigenous language contexts and the extent to which traditional languages, new contact languages and English are spoken. It adopts the concept of ‘language ecologies’ — the different configurations of languages spoken in a location — to investigate how the relationship between Indigenous language use (traditional or new), and social and emotional wellbeing varies by ecology type. We classify the country geographically into five language ecology types, and use regression analysis to investigate associations between Indigenous language use and social and emotional wellbeing by language ecology type. We find heterogenous associations across different language ecologies Speaking an Indigenous language is associated with lower than average levels of wellbeing in areas where English is frequently spoken as a first language, while it is associated with greater than average wellbeing in other areas. Associations between wellbeing and speaking an Indigenous language are relatively larger in areas where traditional Indigenous languages are frequently spoken as a first language than in other areas. The findings suggest that the extent and type of wellbeing benefits from speaking an Indigenous language are dependent on the type of languages in individuals’ language repertoires (person-based) and the language contexts where they live (place-based language ecologies).

Young people tend to bear the brunt of adverse employment consequences of a crisis due mainly to the precarious nature of their job and their over-representation among jobseekers who are having to find employment when jobs are scarce. Using quarterly welfare payment data for the period 2019-2021 from the Department of Social Services, we noted a marked increase in the percentage of 16- to 21-year-olds who received youth allowance (other) payments. While a greater proportion of Indigenous youth than non-Indigenous youth received the payments from 2019 to 2021, the gap widened following the outbreak of the pandemic. Further, applying regression analysis to data from the 2019 and 2020 waves of the 2015 Cohort of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Youth (LSAY), we find no statistically significant change in individual-level labour force status between 2019 and 2020. However, pandemic-induced labour market crises appear to have been associated with reduced work hours, heightened career concerns and sustained nonemployment, where potential impacts are larger among traditionally vulnerable youth groups such as female, Indigenous and overseas-born young persons. The study highlights the need for recognising the intersectionality of youth and other forms of identity (such as gender, Indigenous status and nativity) while designing labour market policies.

Census and survey data show a high prevalence of youth inactivity among Indigenous Australians. The new Closing the Gap Agreement between the Coalition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peak Organisations and the Australian governments at the federal, state and territory level aims to increase the proportion of Indigenous youth (aged 15-24 years) in full-time employment, education or training to 67 per cent by 2031. Understanding the factors that put young people at risk of disengagement from school or the labour market is a requisite for identifying the type and level of support required to increase the engagement of Indigenous Australians with the labour market and education system. However, there is a limited empirical evidence base to guide policy actions. Using data from the Australian Census of Longitudinal Dataset, this study provides extensive profiling of the characteristics of Indigenous youth not in employment, education or training. It also identifies the factors underlying individual-level changes in economic inactivity. The findings suggest that providing well-targeted supports to those who live in disadvantaged circumstances is paramount for mitigating economic inactivity among Indigenous youth.

The effect on economic outcomes of ethnic diversity remains debatable. Some view ethnic diversity as a deterrent of development, whereas others consider it a source of innovation and productivity, which can be translated into a higher level of development. This study aims to shed further light on the issue. Applying instrumental variables estimation to district-level data, we find that ethnic diversity has a significant positive association with nighttime light intensity, which is used as a proxy for level of economic activity. The finding is robust to alternative specifications. Our finding suggests that centuries of interethnic contacts and coexistence may have helped ethnically diverse communities to gain experimental knowledge of the diverse beliefs and social practices and transition it into better economic outcomes.

Child labour can deprive children of the right to a normal childhood and impair their productivity and earning capacity in later life. The relationship between child labour and cognitive development is central to these effects but has not yet been a focus of empirical research. Using panel data from Ethiopia and applying an instrumental variables estimator, we find a strong association of cognitive development with the amount of time previously spent by children on income-generating work, and with the amount of time spent on household chores. Existing levels of child labour in Ethiopia are thus demonstrably harmful.

Prior research shows that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are more likely to have children and have more children, on average, than non-Indigenous women. However, like those of the total Australian population, fertility rates of Indigenous women have been declining since the 1970s. The decline has been more significant in recent years. Between 2006 and 2016, an increasing proportion of Indigenous women postponed childbirth from their teens into their 20s and 30s, leading women to have fewer children over their lifetimes. During the same period, there was a rapid increase in educational attainment among the Indigenous population. This paper examines educational gradients in fertility among Indigenous women and whether the observed fertility decline is linked with the increased educational attainment. Using data from the 2006, 2011 and 2016 Australian Census of Population and Housing and applying a shift-share decomposition analysis, we find that education has been a big driver of falling fertility rates in non-remote areas. In remote areas, education has had a much smaller effect (except for youngest women).

The medical and policy response to COVID-19 has focussed on the containment of the virus, including active surveillance, contact tracing, quarantine, and early strong social distancing efforts needed to limit transmission. The response to the virus has led to a substantial economic disruption. The net effect on the Australian economy has been a sharp decline in national economic activity, which is likely to be exacerbated by the inherent uncertainty of the health crisis and the ongoing need for further containment for a second wave of outbreaks. This ongoing uncertainty will amplify the economic uncertainty inherent in recessions. The global nature of the pandemic and the evolving geopolitical environment may affect international trade for a number of years.

Macroeconomic shocks and the policy responses to those shocks have significant effects on Australia\u0027s economy. However, research into impacts of such shocks on the Indigenous labour force is limited. This paper explores how the [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 crisis is likely to affect Indigenous labour market outcomes in future. While this paper briefly examines the immediate consequences of the COVID-19 crisis for Indigenous economic outcomes, it discusses the likely longer-run consequences for Indigenous employment at some length. The sectoral concentration of Indigenous employment, the relatively high levels of casual employment and the relatively young age profile of the Indigenous population may increase Indigenous exposure to significant economic risks. Indigenous business disproportionately employ Indigenous workers, but such businesses are concentrated in small to medium enterprises that may be sensitive to recessionary conditions, especially if economic uncertainty leads to a more generalised financial crisis involving liquidity constraints. Recent history demonstrates that Indigenous employment rates have increased only gradually in the long period of macroeconomic growth leading up to the pandemic. Historical disadvantage, discrimination and geographical constraints are important drivers of the dynamics of Indigenous labour market disadvantage, that limit educational attainment and ability to find work. For those Indigenous people who secure employment, it can be difficult to retain employment.

Much of the existing literature on the economics of child labor assumes that child labor is synonymous with employment in income‐generating activities. However, children also perform domestic chores, and excessive involvement in chores may be detrimental to their wellbeing. This paper investigates the effect on child health and education outcomes of participation in domestic chores as well as participation in income‐generating activities. Our data come from the 2014 Young Lives survey of Ethiopia. We use the guidelines of the 18th International Conference of Labor Statisticians and the United Nations Children's Fund to make a distinction between light work and harmful work, and apply this distinction to both domestic chores and income‐generating work. Using an instrumental variables approach, we find that involvement in harmful domestic chores is strongly associated with poor health and education outcomes. Our findings suggest that excessive involvement in domestic chores constitutes a form of child labor. Ignoring domestic chores will lead to an underestimate of the prevalence of child labor, especially among girls, whose exposure to chores is much higher, on average, than that of boys.

Much of the existing literature suggests that ethnic diversity undermines economic development. However, there are also ways in which local ethnic diversity might be beneficial, and we show that in the case of Ethiopian child health, the benefits of diversity can outweigh the costs. We find that children in relatively diverse communities are better nourished and more likely to receive a full set of vaccinations. There is some evidence that one explanation for this effect is that women in relatively diverse communities are better informed about health issues and more empowered in making healthcare decisions.

Given the conventional wisdom that poverty and associated income shocks are the fundamental causes of child labour, from a policy perspective, there is a perception that social safety net programmes can play a vital role in reducing child labour. While there is extensive evidence that shows the prevalence of child labour is low among beneficiaries of conditional cash transfer programmes, the impact of workfare programs on child labour has been rarely investigated in the economics literature. This paper addresses the issue by evaluating the impact of the public works component of the Productive Safety Net Programme implemented in Ethiopia in 2005. The programme aims to help poor households to build assets and develop resilience to shocks through employment in public projects. Results from child fixed effects estimations show that children in programme beneficiary households are significantly less likely than their counterparts in non-beneficiary households to be involved in child labour. The findings suggest that, if well targeted, even safety net programmes that do not primarily target child outcomes can be useful in addressing child labour problems.

Little is currently known about the effects of shocks to parental health on the allocation of children’s time between alternative activities. Using longitudinal data from the Ethiopian Young Lives surveys of 2006 and 2009, we analyse the effect of health shocks on the amount of children’s time spent in work, leisure and education. One key contribution of the paper is that we distinguish between child labour as defined by organisations such as the International Labour Organisation and other types of child work, such as light domestic chores. We find that paternal illness increases the time spent in income-generating work but maternal illness increases the time spent in domestic work. Moreover, maternal illness has a relatively large effect on daughters while paternal illness has a relatively large effect on sons. Overall, parental illness leads to large and significant increases in the amount of child labour. JEL Classification: D13, I12, I21, O15