National Agenda for a Multicultural Australia
Issues
Issues continued, from previous page.
(vii) Unemployment
- Cultural difference continues to be associated with the likelihood and duration of unemployment in Australia. Aboriginals are six times more likely to be unemployed than non-Aboriginals, and certain immigrant groups, such as Lebanese, Turks and Vietnamese, endure unemployment at 3 to 4 times the national average.
Overall, those born in non-English speaking countries have higher unemployment rates than other Australians as Figure 5.4 indicates.
Poor English language proficiency and inadequate knowledge of the Australian labour market - problems which are particularly acute among recent arrivals - exacerbate the problem.
There is a continuing need for targeted labour market assistance to address these problems and to provide opportunities for local work experience and training.
(viii) Higher Education
- Limited available data suggests that access to higher education is a problem for members of particular cultural or birthplace groups rather than a general problem. Difficulties of participation (course completion) once access has been achieved are an even greater problem.
- There is a need to distinguish between the different needs of particular groups of NESB students: those who have completed their schooling in Australia, those who have completed their schooling overseas, and those with overseas post-secondary qualifications who may need some form of upgrading or bridging training. The participation of Aboriginal Australians in higher education remains extremely low.
- There are also challenges for the tertiary education sector in preparing students, whatever their background, to serve a culturally diverse community. All intending professionals and paraprofessionals in Australia, and most especially those who will work in the services sector, need training that will equip them to work effectively in a multicultural environment.
It is necessary to reform the curriculum in higher education wherever appropriate so as to provide students with cross-cultural skills.
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