Employment and financial security
Outcome: People with disability have economic security, enabling them to plan for the future and exercise choice and control over their lives
Why is this outcome area important?
Employment and financial security are central to improving outcomes for people with disability. This includes providing jobs, career opportunities and having adequate income for people with disability to meet their needs (Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021–2031).
Under the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Australia has an obligation to promote and protect the right of persons with disabilities to work, on an equal basis with others; this includes the right to the opportunity to gain a living by work freely chosen or accepted in a labour market and work environment that is open, inclusive and accessible to persons with disabilities (UN 2006).
What are the policy priorities?
- Economic participation: Supporting people with disability to find and keep jobs.
- Transition to employment: Supporting young people with disability who leave school to find work.
- Economic independence: Supporting people with disability to earn enough money to live well, plan for their future and have choice and control over their own lives.
Measures
For the 3 policy priorities under this outcome area, data are available for 6 system measures and 4 population measures (Table 2.1). This includes one new measure since the first annual report: Proportion of Australian Public Service employees with disability.
There are 7 measures with updated post-baseline data in this report. Of these:
- 4 showed progress
- 2 showed no change
- 1 showed regress.
For future measures requiring development, see Future measures.
Policy priority | Measure | Baseline time point | Baseline value | Latest time point | Latest value | Change since baseline(c) | Progress status |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Economic participation | Number of valid 52-week full outcome claims for employment in the 12-month period for people with disability* (system measure) | 2020–21 | 16,041 | 2022–23 | 31,281 | 14,649 valid claims | Progress |
Economic participation | Proportion of people with disability using jobactive who obtain at least one job placement in a 12-month period which later converted to a 26-week outcome* (system measure) | 2020–21 | 7.5% | 2021–22 | 7.6% | 0.1 pp | No change |
Economic participation | Proportion of NDIS participants who get the support they need to do their job(a) (system measure) | 2021–22 Q2 | 65.9% | 2022–23 Q4 | 62.5% | –3.4 pp | Regress |
Economic participation | Gap in proportion of people with disability in the labour force who are unemployed, compared with proportion of people without disability (population measure) | 2018 | 4.7 pp | 2018 | 4.7 pp | n.a. | Not known yet |
Economic participation | Proportion of NDIS participants aged 15–64 in the labour force who are in open employment at full award wage (population measure) | 2021–22 Q2 | 19.9% | 2022–23 Q4 | 21.8% | 1.9 pp | Progress |
Transition to employment | Proportion of VET graduates with disability who are employed on completion of training (system measure) | 2021 | 51.6% | 2022 | 59.3% | 7.7 pp | Progress |
Transition to employment | Proportion of NDIS young people (aged 15–24) in employment (system measure) | 2021–22 Q2 | 17.6% | 2022–23 Q4 | 19.1% | 1.5 pp | Progress |
Transition to employment | Proportion of young people (aged 15–24) with disability in the labour force who are employed(b) (population measure) | 2018 | 75.9% | 2018 | 75.9% | n.a. | Not known yet |
Economic independence | Proportion of Australian Public Service employees with disability* (system measure) | December 2021 | 4.9% | December 2022 | 4.9% | 0.0 pp | No change |
Economic independence | Gap in median gross income for a person with disability aged | 2018 | $511 | 2018 | $511 | n.a. | Not known yet |
*Measure wording has been revised to reflect available data more accurately or clarify the measure’s intent. See relevant measure section below for more information (See Appendix B: List of measures). Back to content
n.a. – not available; pp – percentage points; VET – vocational education and training.
This measure will be replaced in the future by ‘Proportion of NDIS participants with an employment goal in receipt of employment income in the last 12 months’.
- This measure will be replaced in the future by ‘Proportion of NDIS participants with an employment goal in receipt of employment income in the last 12 months’. Back to content
- This measure will be replaced in the future by ‘Proportion of school leavers with disability who are not in employment, education or training 12 months later’. Back to content
- n.a. indicates that there has not been an additional data point post-baseline to enable an assessment of progress. Back to content
Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021–2031 (2021), Department of Social Services, Australian Government, accessed 11 September 2023.
UN (2006) ‘Article 27 – Work and employment’, Convention On The Rights of Persons With Disabilities, UN, accessed 3 November 2023.