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Representation of EEO groups
At June 2005, women accounted for 54.2% of ongoing staff. This was a relatively large increase over the previous year (53.1% at June 2004). For people from a NESB1,5 there was growth in both actual and proportional representation (up from 5.2% at June 2004 to 5.3% at June 2005).
The proportion of Indigenous Australians continued to fall this year to 2.2% of ongoing staff, down from 2.4% in 2004. Last year we reported that 2.3% of ongoing employees at June 2004 were Indigenous. The proportion for last year has been revised upwards, due to an improvement in the quality of historical data on Indigenous status. Representation of people with a disability fell from 3.9% to 3.8% over the year. Both these groups declined in actual numbers as well, despite an increase in overall ongoing staff numbers.
The proportional representation of each of these groups is presented in Table 9.1.
Table 9.1: Representation of EEO groups among ongoing employees, 1996 to 20056
| 1996 (%) | 1997 (%) | 1998 (%) | 1999 (%) | 2000 (%) | 2001 (%) | 2002 (%) | 2003 (%) | 2004 (%) | 2005 (%) | |
| Women | 47.7 | 48.1 | 48.6 | 49.0 | 49.9 | 51.4 | 51.9 | 52.8 | 53.1 | 54.2 |
| Indigenous Australians | 2.6 | 2.6 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.6 | 2.6 | 2.6 | 2.5 | 2.4 | 2.2 |
| People with a disability | 5.4 | 5.3 | 5.1 | 4.8 | 4.5 | 4.2 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 3.9 | 3.8 |
| NESB1 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.4 | 5.3 | 5.3 | 5.3 | 5.3 | 5.1 | 5.2 | 5.3 |
Source: APSED
Trends in representation for each of these groups are discussed in the following sections.
5 In the absence of alternative measures, the concept ‘NESB’, representing people from a non-English speaking background, is used with APSED. This captures information about first language spoken, place of birth and parents’ language. NESB1, the measure used here, includes people born overseas whose first language was not English. NESB2 has previously been reported in addition to NESB1 and includes children of migrants, including those who were born overseas and arrived in Australia before the age of five and did not speak English as a first language, those who were Australian born but did not speak English as a first language and had at least one NESB1 parent, and neither of whose parents spoke English as a first language. Analysis of APSED data has found that this group does not have a substantial disadvantage compared to other workers, and it is therefore not reported on here.
6 Due to improvements in the quality of historical data, proportions in this table may differ from those published in previous years; for example, last year we reported that 2.3% of ongoing employees were Indigenous Australians. NESB1 data has also increased due to a revision in the calculation of this group’s representation.
