ADF service provides secure and stable employment, and after separating from the ADF, many ex-serving ADF members aim to transition into the civilian workforce (Van Hooff et al. 2018). Skills learned in the ADF can include project management, IT, administration and logistics, which are also widely used in the civilian workforce. However, for veterans managing symptoms of poor mental health, transitioning to civilian life and employment outcomes can be challenging as these symptoms may affect their ability to secure and maintain employment (Palumbo, 2019). For these reasons, employment following separation from the ADF has been identified as an issue of particular importance among the veteran community (DVA 2015).
An individual’s labour force status is influenced by their choices and life circumstances as well as by broader conditions of the labour market. Three categories of labour force status have been explored in this report including employed (those who have a job), unemployed (those who do not have a job, but who are actively looking for one) and not in the labour force (those retired, those permanently unable to work, and those not looking for work) (ABS 2018).
Over three quarters of ex-serving ADF males and females (78% and 76% respectively) were employed in 2016, compared with 67% of Australian males and 57% of Australian females. After adjusting for age, ex-serving ADF females remained to be employed at a higher rate than Australian females, while ex-serving ADF males were employed at a similar rate to Australian males (Figure 4).
Female ex-serving ADF members were more likely to be working part-time (26%) than their male counterparts (10%), but at the same rate as Australian females. This pattern remained after adjusting for age.
Factors that were associated with an increased likelihood of ex-serving ADF members being employed in 2016 were:
- separating voluntarily from the ADF compared with separating involuntarily for medical reasons,
- serving 10 years or more compared with those who had served less than 1 year,
- being a Commissioned Officer at the time of separation from the ADF,
- being male, and
- separating from the Air Force or Army compared with separating from the Navy.
Age was also statistically significant in predicting whether an ex-serving ADF member was employed in 2016. These results are similar to those from international studies involving Canadian veterans (MacLean et al. 2014) or British veterans (Iversen et al. 2005).
Ex-serving ADF males and females who separated from the ADF less than 1 year ago had lower proportions of being employed in 2016 (72% and 70% respectively), compared with 81% ex-serving males and 77% ex-serving females who separated between 5 and less than 10 years ago (from 31 December 2015).
Ex-serving ADF males and females aged 55 years and over had the lowest proportions of being employed in 2016 (50% and 55% respectively), compared with other ex-serving ADF members. However, for this age group, ex-serving ADF males and females had higher proportions of being employed compared to Australians of the same age (40% and 30% respectively). These findings are likely to be confounded by the lower proportion of older ex-serving ADF members in the linked data in MADIP.
In 2016, the proportions of ex-serving ADF members employed were relatively similar across the states and territories of Australia.
For ex-serving ADF males employed, the Public administration and safety industry was the most common industry of employment in all states and territories (ranging from 16% in Queensland to 48% in the Australian Capital Territory) except for Western Australia where Mining was the most common industry (17%). These figures were higher than the 7.0% of employed Australian males working in the Public administration and safety industry and 2.7% in the Mining industry.
For ex-serving ADF females employed, the Health care and social assistance industry was the most common industry of employment in all states and territories (ranging from 20% in Western Australian to 28% in South Australia) with the exception of the Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory where being employed in the Public administration and safety industry was the most common (32% and 52% respectively). While the proportion of employed Australian females working in the Health care and social assistance industry was similar (22%), employed female Australians were less likely to be working in the Public administration and safety industry (6.7%).