Abstract

Indigenous Australians experience higher rates of severe or profound disability than other Australians and the gap in rates of disability between Indigenous and non- Indigenous Australians increases with age. The relatively high rates of disability amongst the Indigenous population lead to relatively heavy caring burdens. Relatively little is known about the impact of caring on the employment rates of Indigenous carers and virtually nothing about the impact of caring on changes in labour force status. This paper uses the recently released Australian Census Longitudinal Dataset to analyse the labour market dynamics of Indigenous and non-Indigenous carers and the extent to which these differ from the dynamics of those who are not carers. We also examine how labour force status changes, in association with commencement as a carer and exiting from caring. The analysis raises questions about how caring decisions are made within households and the extent to which the costs of caring may differ between Indigenous and non-Indigenous households.