Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021–2031 Outcomes Framework: 3rd annual report

Increasing employment opportunities for people with disability provides more independence and control financially and helps support a better standard of living. Paid employment may increase confidence and lead to better mental and physical health and wellbeing. Although some people with disability may be unable to work, others are able to do so and have the necessary skills, or the capacity to acquire necessary skills. Increasing employment of people with disability who are able to work will ensure that these individuals have opportunities to participate in the economy (Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021–2031).

Services that play an important role in supporting people with disability to find employment and get the support they need to do their job include Disability Employment Services (DES), the Employment Assistance Fund, and supports funded through the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). People with disability are also supported to find employment through the mainstream, national employment service, Workforce Australia.

It should be noted that employment alone does not always provide people with disability with adequate income to be self-sufficient. Australia's social security system provides a strong safety net for Australians who are unable to fully support themselves, including those with disability.

An essential enabler for finding and maintaining employment is having appropriate supports. Community attitudes also play a critical role (see also Section 8 – Community attitudes).

Disability Employment Services

DES is a program funded by the Australian Government that aims to assist jobseekers with disability, injury or health conditions to prepare for, find and keep a job in the open labour market. The program assists with maintaining employment by providing employment support for at least 52 weeks. 

The measure was intended to track the number of people supported in DES to achieve at least 12 months employment at their work capacity. Measure wording has been revised in this report to reflect available data more accurately (see Appendix B: List of measures).

Due to the nature of the available data, the counting unit for this measure is valid claims made by a DES provider for employment outcomes rather than the number of participants. The measure is reported here as: 

• Number of valid 52-week full outcome claims for employment in the 12-month period for people with disability.

The desired key system outcome for this measure is that DES supports people with disability to find and maintain employment. From 1 July 2025, a new specialist disability employment program will be rolled out which will support people with disability to prepare for, find and maintain sustainable employment. This new program will replace the current DES program. Because of this, 2024–25 will be the last year DES can be used for this measure.

Revised results at baseline: 2020–21

• In 2020–21, 16,041 valid claims were made for full 52-week employment outcomes for people with disability aged 15 and over.
• This was 3,499 valid claims lower than in 2019–20 (19,540). It should be noted that the baseline year was likely impacted by COVID-19.

Latest results: 2023–24

• In 2023–24, there were 24,845 valid claims for full 52-week employment outcomes for people with disability aged 15 and over. This was an increase of 8,804 valid claims (or an increase of approximately 55%) since the baseline year, 2020–21 (16,041 valid claims), indicating improvement since the Strategy began (Figure 2.1).
• The number of valid claims in 2023–24 is 6,436 (or 21%) lower than in 2022–23 (31,281).

Things to consider when interpreting results

• Full employment outcome claims are those where the participant is working hours at or above their work capacity on average.
• Data for this measure are available only for the period from 1 July 2019 onwards. This is because a full 52-week employment outcome could only be claimed 52 weeks after the participant had begun placement with a DES provider contract under the DES Grant Agreement, which was established from 1 July 2018.
• The baseline year 2020–21 for this measure is potentially problematic due to the likely impact of COVID-19 on 2020–21 results, and the lack of data available for time series analysis over a longer period in the pre-COVID-19 period. The adverse impact of COVID-19 on 2020–21 results means that comparisons of changes over time should also take into account pre-baseline results, with 2019–20 offering the best available indication of the number of valid claims pre-Covid-19.
• The decline in overall caseload is due to a range of factors, including eligibility changes to the DES program made in 2021 and due to stronger labour market demand post COVID-19 lockdowns. With the lower overall participant numbers there are fewer overall people achieving outcomes across the DES program. As a percentage of the total population though, the outcomes achieved by DES participants remained at a reasonably consistent rate.
• The data do not provide any insight into how many people did not achieve 12 months of full employment.
• DES data are not comparable with the other employment services data presented below, as they are from different sources, cover different populations, and measure different outcomes.

For figure notes, see Appendix C: Figure notes and sources.

For the latest data and breakdowns of the data, see Australia’s Disability Strategy Outcomes Framework | DES.

Employment services

jobactive was the Australian Government employment service that connected job seekers with employers and helped them find, prepare for and keep a job. The program ran from July 2015 to June 2022. It was replaced by Workforce Australia on 4 July 2022 (DEWR 2022). While DES is a service specifically targeted to help people with disability, jobactive was – and Workforce Australia is – a mainstream service open to all Australians seeking employment. 

The Outcomes Framework intended to track the proportion of people with disability in the labour force who use jobactive and successfully find employment within 12 months. Measure wording has been revised in this report to reflect available data more accurately (see Appendix B: List of measures).  

Due to the nature of the available data, the measure is reported here as:

• 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.

The reported measure tracks sustainable employment gained through jobactive. Due to the introduction of the Workforce Australia program, 2021–22 is the last year jobactive can be used for this measure. Data for the 2023–24 reporting period will be drawn from the Workforce Australia Services program and reported in the 2026 Outcomes Framework annual report. Data will not be comparable with jobactive data.

Latest results: 2021–22

• In 2021–22, 7.6% of people with disability using jobactive obtained at least one job placement in a 12-month period which later converted to a 26-week outcome. This was almost the same result as at baseline (7.5% in 2020–21) indicating no change for this measure since the Strategy began (Figure 2.2).
• There is no clear trend across the historical and post-baseline data (the period 2015–16 to 2021–22) with results ranging from a high of 7.7% in 2017–18 to a low of 4.5% in 2019–20, likely due to the impact of COVID-19 on the labour market. The proportion in 2021–22 was just slightly lower than the highest point of 7.7% in 2017–18 (Figure 2.2).

Things to consider when interpreting results

• Results for this measure are preliminary as they cover only the first 6 months of the Strategy rather than a full year.
• As there is no time limit in which employment service providers can claim a 26-week employment outcome, there are small differences with historical data included in the annual report.
• Results for this measure are not comparable with results for the DES measure as they are from different data sources, cover different populations and measure different outcomes.

For figure notes, see Appendix C: Figure notes and sources.

For the latest data and breakdowns of the data, see Australia’s Disability Strategy Outcomes Framework | Employment services.

NDIS participants job support

A key focus of the NDIS is to improve social and economic participation for its participants (NDIS 2024). NDIS participants can receive support to do their job from several services, including DES (described earlier) and the NDIS. The NDIS funding can include supports in employment, which are for day-to-day assistance in the workplace to maintain employment (NDIS 2021). It can also include ancillary support; for example, transport to work, personal care at work, assistive technology (used both at work and at home) and capacity building for skills development. 

Data for this measure are from the NDIS Short Form questionnaire and include participants who answered:

• ‘Yes’ to the question ‘Are you currently working in a paid job?’ and
• Either ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to the question ‘Do you get the support you need to do your job?’

Note, the question is not intended (nor interpreted by participants) to be limited to NDIS support. Nor does a ‘No’ response necessarily mean that the NDIS is responsible for providing the required support. It may reflect other factors, such as employer capability to provide support.

Latest results: June 2024 (Q4 of 2023–24)

• In 2023–24 Q4, more than 6 in 10 (63%) NDIS participants aged 15–64 reported that they had received the support they needed to do their job. This was 3 percentage points lower than at baseline (2021–22 Q2) (66%), indicating regress since the Strategy began (Figure 2.3).
• Since baseline, consistent quarter-to-quarter decreases have been observed, with a modelled quarterly decrease of 0.4 of a percentage point over the period 2021–22 Q2 to 2023–24 Q4. This is smaller than the modelled quarterly decrease in the historical data for the period 2018–19 Q2 to 2021–22 Q2 which was around one percentage point.

Things to consider when interpreting results

• Several external factors may influence responses to the question ‘Do you get the support you need to do your job?’. Respondents may not need additional support to do their job or they may receive the disability-related support required but other sources of support are lacking, such as informal or employer-provided support. 
• Time series analysis for the NDIS data presented here is different from the longitudinal approach taken in NDIS reporting. See Data sources | National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) for more details. 

For figure notes, see Appendix C: Figure notes and sources.

For the latest data and breakdowns of the data, see Australia’s Disability Strategy Outcomes Framework | Job support.

Unemployment gap

Tracking changes over time in unemployment rates of people with disability compared with people without disability is one way to measure whether access to employment is becoming more accessible for people with disability.

‘Unemployment’ refers to those who reported that they were not employed during the reference week and had actively looked for full or part-time work at any time in the 4 weeks up to the end of the reference week and were available for work in the reference week (ABS 2019). ‘Labour force’ includes people who are employed or unemployed (ABS 2024).

The desired population outcome for this measure is to see a decrease in the unemployment gap between people with and without disability.

Latest results: 2022

• The disability employment gap between people in the labour force who are unemployed with disability and without disability was 3.9 percentage points in 2022. This was 0.8 percentage points lower than the employment gap in 2018 (4.7 percentage points) (Figure 2.4).
• As the change between the baseline and latest value is not statistically significant, the status is indicated as no change.

Things to consider when interpreting the results

• Restricted to people aged 15 and over living in households who are in the labour force. People in the labour force include those who were employed in the reference week, and those who were unemployed, that is: not employed during the reference week, had actively looked for full-time or part-time work at any time in the four weeks up to the end of the reference week and were available for work in the reference week.
• Statistical methods are used to assist with determining confidence where there are 2 or more data points. For sampled (survey) data, sampling error is considered for determining whether the change is statistically significant, based on overlapping confidence intervals and z-tests. More information can be found in Appendix A: Methods.
• The definition of unemployment does not account for people who are underemployed (are employed but would like to work more hours) or are ‘discouraged’ from or have temporarily stopped participating in the labour force (would like to work but are not actively searching or were not available to start). Many people with profound disabilities may be out of scope of this measure as they may not be seeking work, or available to start work. As a result, care should be taken in interpreting this measure.

For figure notes, see Appendix C: Figure notes and sources.

For the latest data and breakdowns of the data, see Australia’s Disability Strategy Outcomes Framework | Unemployment gap.

NDIS participants in full award wage employment

‘Open employment’ refers to employment in the open market and employees being paid the relevant minimum wage or above (NDIS 2024). People with disability face a number of barriers in relation to open employment, including discrimination by employers or colleagues, and employment restrictions (such as limited hours of work or restrictions on the type of work available) (AIHW 2022).

Data for this measure are collected as part of the NDIS Short Form questionnaire. Data include NDIS participants who answered:

• ‘Yes’ or ‘No, but I would like one’ to the question ‘Are you currently working in a paid job?’ and
• ‘Open employment market with full award wages’ to the question ‘What type of employment is it?’

The desired population outcome for this measure is an increase in the proportion of NDIS participants in the labour force who are in open employment at full award wages.

Latest results: June 2024 (Q4 of 2023–24)

• In 2022–23 Q4, just over 1 in 5 (23%) NDIS participants in the labour force aged 15–64 were in open employment at full award wage. This was around 3 percentage points higher than at baseline (20% in 2021–22 Q2) indicating improvement since the Strategy began (Figure 2.5).
• Since baseline, consistent quarter-to-quarter increases have been observed, with a modelled quarterly increase of 0.3 of a percentage point over the period 2021–22 Q2 to 2023–24 Q4. This is similar to the modelled quarterly increase in the historical data for the period 2018–19 Q2 to 2021–22 Q2 (just under 0.3 of a percentage point).

Things to consider when interpreting results

• Data from NDIS participants who answered, ‘Yes’ or ‘No, but I would like one’ to the question ‘Are you currently working in a paid job?’ are intended to capture NDIS participants who are in the labour force.
• The measure does not include people employed under the Supported Wage System (SWS) – that is, open employment at less than full award wages. The SWS applies to those who have a reduced working capacity. If an employee is covered by an award or registered agreement with an SWS provision, an eligible employee is entitled to a percentage of the minimum pay rate for their classification, depending on their assessed work capacity (NDIS 2024).
• This measure looks at the proportion of NDIS participants aged 15–64 in the labour force who are in open employment at full award wage. It does not provide insight into the proportion of employed individuals with disability who are in open employment, which may show different results.
• Time series analysis for the NDIS data presented here is different from the longitudinal approach taken in NDIS reporting. See Data sources | National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) for more details. 

For figure notes, see Appendix C: Figure notes and sources.

For the latest data and breakdowns of the data, see Australia’s Disability Strategy Outcomes Framework | NDIS participants in full award wage employment.