Recent reporting suggests that there has been no growth in Indigenous employment since the mid-2000s, or even that employment has decreased slightly. Such reports focus on changes in a measure of employment which includes Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) participants. However, when CDEP is excluded from the employment measure a very different picture emerges — one of a strong and sustained increase in non-CDEP employment since 1994. Failure to clearly focus on non-CDEP employment can lead to misleading conclusions about employment growth and the effectiveness of government policy aimed at increasing non-CDEP employment.

Keywords: Indigenous employment, Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP)