Carving out employment futures for aboriginal ex-prisoners in the resource sector.

• Author: Giles, Margaret
• Position: Contributed Article - Report

Abstract

The resource sector in northern Western Australia draws its workforce from local purpose-built towns (drive-in/drive-out (DIDO) workers) and metropolitan areas (fly-in/fly-out (FIFO) workers). However, each of these arrangements has a downside. Mining towns are costly to build and maintain. Staff turnover is high. FIFO lifestyles adopted by city-based tradesmen seeking high incomes can lead to social dysfunction. Hence, the question: is there a viable alternative in these regional and remote areas for local communities to provide workers and ancillary support for the resource sector? For example most of the inland mines in Western Australia are located near or within Aboriginal communities. Returning to these communities are ex-prisoners who have had the opportunity to gain trade skills while in metropolitan prisons. This article considers whether Aboriginal ex-prisoners might be gainfully employed in the resource sector in the Pilbara and Kimberley regions of Western Australia.

1. Introduction (1)

   During the recent mining boom, the resource sector in northern Western Australia drew its workforce mainly from local purpose-built towns (DIDO workers) and metropolitan areas (FIFO workers) (Petrova and Mari nova 2013). The Minerals Council of Australia (2013, cited in Pryce et al. (2014)) stated that, while resource companies would prefer to hire workers who reside in local towns, available local labour does not always have the required skill set, or there may not even be local communities in the very remote mining areas. The sector also relied on the employer-sponsored (457) visa system to fill the skill gaps with temporary migrant workers (Barrett et al. 2014; Bahn 2013); these workers often became long-distance commuters (HRSCRA 2013) as well. However, each of these sources of labour is problematic. (2)

   DIDO workers often reside in mining towns--such as Tom Price--which are costly to establish and maintain. This is especially so in the post-1990s era of reduced state government assistance (3) for building infrastructure (for example ports and railroads) for mining ventures. In addition, there is a high turnover of families and workers. For example compared with 54 per cent of all WA residents, only 29 per cent of residents in the Pilbara region were living at the same address as they were five years previously (WA Department of Training and Workforce Development 2013). FIFO lifestyles have been adopted mostly by young city-based trades people--both single and coupled--with a keen eye for high incomes. However, research into worker well-being has exposed a dark side to the FIFO lifestyle, with some workers, families, and communities experiencing social dysfunction and compromised mental health (Vojnovic et al. 2014). Migrant workers on 457 visa have been welcomed by mining companies to fill skill shortages, despite the initial relocation costs that are thought to be between $7000 and $65,000 per family (Bahn 2013, p. 49). Bahn found other potential downsides to reliance on this labour supply--unfair competition with Australian workers for jobs, reduced skills training in Australia, and possible exploitation of migrant workers.

   The negatives associated with DIDO and FIFO work arrangements and the employment of migrant workers engender a search for a different approach to ensuring a ready supply of labour to the resource sector. The question is whether there is a viable alternative in the regional and remote areas for existing local communities to provide workers and ancillary support to the resource sector.

   This article explores opportunities afforded by the resource sector for local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Although the Dockery (2013b) research results presented at the 42nd Australian Conference of Economists that the mining boom in Western Australia had, at best, a limited impact on reducing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander unemployment rates in rural and remote areas in Western Australia, our focus differs. Specifically, we examine the labour market opportunities in the resource sector for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ex-prisoners who participated in training courses relevant to resource-sector employment during their imprisonment, and who returned to their homes in the Pilbara and Kimberley regions. In addition, we estimate recidivism rates to test whether these Indigenous ex-prisoners are less likely to be returned to prison if their past correctional education participation included studying for the qualifications needed by the resource sector, irrespective of whether they subsequently attained employment in the sector. We look at their post-release welfare experience and how this is influenced by their prison studies.

   The remainder of this article comprises five sections. Sections 2 and 3 provide a summary of the recent literature on the effectiveness of correctional education in reducing recidivism and improving labour market outcomes, and the complexities of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment, respectively. Section 4 presents the data and methodology. Results and discussion follow in sections 5 and 6, respectively.

2. Recidivism, Correctional Education and Training, and Post-release Employment

   The post-release outcome of most interest to justice and corrective-services agencies is recidivism. The types of recidivism measures discussed in the literature vary. In its least complicated form, these measures refer to the cessation of offending behaviour including being charged, sentenced, and incarcerated. For example studies using longitudinal incarceration data referred to prisoners who reappear as recidivists and those who do not reappear within one, two, or three years of having reintegrated within the community (see the most recent meta-analysis of the effectiveness of correctional education by Davis et al. 2013). Other studies suggested a longer time frame for judging whether the offending behaviour has stopped. For example Petersilia (2009) suggested that reduced recidivism can only be judged by evidence of at least seven years without reoffending. Broader definitions of reduced recidivism include lessened severity of offences and increased time in the community between consecutive offences for repeat offenders (Tripodi, Kim and Bender 2010).

   Corrective-services departments throughout Australia and elsewhere have introduced education and training programs (including workplace-integrated learning (pre-release job placements)) in their prisons; they use course completions and reduced recidivism as measures of success (Nally et al. 2012). Education and training in prison impart general and specific life and work skills, and workplace-integrated learning promotes the social aspects of successful reintegration. These interventions are offered to adult prisoners in WA prisons, and provide many ex-prisoners with the opportunity to reconnect successfully with their community and the labour market (Giles and Whale 2015).

   Giles and Le (2009) argued that labour market outcomes such as post-release employment should be used as a yardstick for evaluating the success of correctional education. They drew parallels with the university sector in which graduate destination (in terms of employment in their fields of study) is regarded as a better measure of graduate success than whether or not they completed their university course. However, obtaining evidence in relation to improved employment and occupation for ex-prisoners is more difficult than is obtaining information on criminal history. In the United Kingdom, criminal history data have been linked with jobs data (a merged population dataset compiled and managed by the UK Department of Works and Pensions and Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs) using matching methodologies (UK Ministry of Justice 2013). These linked data provide comprehensive post-release information on the labour market experiences of ex-prisoners. In Australia, similar jobs data are only available at present through national surveys. However, national welfare data are available and have been used to proxy labour market experiences for ex-prisoners (Giles and Whale 2014).

   Few studies lookat both recidivism and post-release employment as outcomes of correctional education. One such study by Apel (2014) reported on the effectiveness of a transitional work program in New York. Apel (2014, p. 5287) confirmed that the reduction in recidivism was due to 'something other than the program's impact on ... employment'. That is, unemployed ex-prisoners were as likely as employed ex-prisoners to remain in the community (not re-incarcerated) if they had participated in the pre-release and post-release supported work program. Nally et al. (2012) reported a similar result in relation to correctional education programs. Economists argue that the finding is plausible, as improving human capital increases the opportunity cost of reoffending (Lochner and Moretti 2004, p. 155).

   In summary, correctional education, in general, appearsto reduce recidivism, improve post-release employment, and reduce welfare dependence. However, whether or not Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders seek job opportunities and maintain employment is complicated by socio-demographic and historical issues.

3. Issues Affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Employment

   Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are less likely to be employed than are other Australians for many general and specific reasons. On all socioeconomic indicators, the gap between outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians is wide, with some gaps narrowing but with others enlarging (SCRGSP 2011, p. 3). Herriman (2013, p. 86) summarised economic, health, education, and justice problems as affecting proportionately more people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent than other Australians as: poverty, poor...