Diversity

Trends in representation of EEO groups

Table 5.1 shows proportional representation in the APS for Indigenous Australians, people with disability and people from a non-English speaking background for the past 10 years.

Table 5.1: Representation of EEO groups among ongoing employees, 1998 to 2007¹
	1998 %	1999 %	2000 %	2001 %	2002 %	2003 %	2004 %	2005 %	2006 %	2007 %
Indigenous Australians	2.7	2.7	2.5	2.5	2.6	2.5	2.4	2.3	2.1	2.1
People with disability	5.2	4.9	4.6	4.2	4.1	4.1	4.1	3.9	3.6	3.3
People from NESB1	5.5	5.4	5.4	5.4	5.4	5.3	5.3	5.5	5.7	5.8
Source: APSED

The representation of Indigenous Australians in the APS increased from 2,880 at June 2006 to 3,018 at June 2007, but remained steady as a proportion of ongoing employees at 2.1%. Last year’s figure has been revised up from 2.0% because of an increase in the number of existing employees who have now identified as Indigenous Australians on agencies’ HR systems (previously the Indigenous status of these employees had not been provided).

For employees with disability, representation declined again this year to 3.3%, down from 3.6% at June 2006. The number of ongoing employees with disability fell from 4,818 at June 2006 to 4,717 at June 2007. Last year’s proportion for employees with disability has also been revised, up from 3.4% reported last year, also as a result of improved data quality.

Actual numbers and proportional representation for people from a non-English speaking background² grew (up from 5.7% at June 2006 to 5.8% at June 2007).

1 Due to improvements in the quality of historical data, proportions in this table may differ from those published in previous years.

2 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 reported 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 those who were Australian born 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.