Racism and discrimination in employment takes a variety of forms.
Unequal access to work opportunities because of institutional, structural and interpersonal racism stops people from enjoying equal economic participation and earning higher incomes. This can cement inequality for people from racialised communities and their families, making it harder to:
- find secure housing
- stay healthy
- pursue educational opportunities.
Limited employment opportunities can also affect a person’s sense of identity and self-worth.
Employers may not recognise overseas skills and qualifications, or they might avoid hiring qualified candidates without Australian work experience.[93] As a result, migrant workers are often over-represented in insecure and poorly paid employment. Up to 16% of recent migrants are paid less than the national minimum wage compared with up to 9% of all Australian workers.[94]
International student graduates are likely to experience qualification–employment mismatch and have significantly poorer employment outcomes compared with their domestic counterparts. More than half of Temporary Graduate visa holders end up in jobs at the lowest skill levels despite being qualified for the top skill level.[95]
Multicultural women, including women from refugee backgrounds, have a significantly lower rate of workforce participation (47.3%) compared with multicultural men (69.5%).[96]
Employers asking for ‘Australian experience’ is a form of racial discrimination from the perspective of someone who is a new migrant, who is doing the right thing and trying to seek gainful employment. This appears to not align with Australia’s skilled migration policy – on the one hand migrants gain entry into Australia based on education and work experience, but then that is not good enough to get a job once in Australia, because they then don’t have ‘Australian experience’. Often this leads to people taking up jobs below their skill level.
– Survey respondent
In a 2019 survey by the Victorian Multicultural Commission, nearly half (46%) of young multicultural people surveyed said their ethnic background, faith or culture was a barrier to employment.[97] Multicultural young people reported that they experienced name bias – being rejected for interviews when including their names in resumés. When submitting the same resumés without their names, they were offered interviews.[98] Participants in our community consultations noted these same experiences. International research confirms that facing racial discrimination when seeking employment is widespread.[99]
According to the Victorian Government Aboriginal affairs report 2022, the number of First Peoples women who are not employed or seeking employment has continued to grow, reaching 45.6%.[100] Barriers to employment play a factor in who can return to full- and part-time work, including caring duties and experiences of racism and sexism.
The proportion of employed First Peoples Victorians in industries with the highest income is less than the proportion of employed non–First Peoples Victorians.[101] This may be due to systemic racism and lack of equal opportunity, which contributes to the pay gap between First Peoples Victorians and others.[102]
A 2022 Women on Boards audit of non-corporate organisations in Australia found that, while women comprised 46% of board directors:
- only 5.7% of board directors were multicultural women
- only 3.2% were First Peoples women.[103]
First Peoples representation was also skewed, with representation occurring mostly on First Peoples–focused boards.[104]
Women from culturally diverse backgrounds also get paid less. The ethnic gender pay gap is double the national average gender pay gap – around 33–36% compared with 14%.[105]
When hiring staff, employers often address ‘team fit’ or go with people they are comfortable with. That means that people from other cultures or faiths are passed by. It is all too easy to point to other reasons why another candidate was selected, so it isn’t overt racism.
– Survey respondent
Racism in the workplace
- First Peoples, multicultural and multifaith Victorians face more barriers to gaining employment and a greater risk of harassment, discrimination and abuse in the workplace. This affects their safety and ability to succeed at work.
- A 2023 Australian study showed that people with non–English sounding names received 57.4% fewer positive responses to job applications, even though their resumes were identical to those with English sounding names.[106]
- A 2023 nationwide survey found more than half of the migrant workers surveyed had experienced discrimination at work (54%) or felt unsafe at work (59%).[107]
- A 2021 study found that two-thirds of LGBTIQA+ multicultural and multifaith people experienced discrimination at work.[108]
- In a 2022 survey, 86% of culturally and racially marginalised women reported having to educate colleagues about race issues, causing distress to 72% of them.[109]
- Sixty-three per cent of First Peoples employees experience ‘high identity strain’, where they or others view their culture to be at odds with the dominant culture of the workplace.[110]
- Over three-quarters (76%) of women of colour in the VPS have either personally faced racial discrimination, witnessed it or both. Two-thirds of those who personally faced racism say they did not report it because they do not have confidence in the reporting process.[111]
- First Peoples women in the VPS are more likely to earn lower salaries and are less likely to hold managerial roles compared with First Peoples men and non–First Peoples staff.[112]
- Multicultural people – and women in particular – are under-represented at the management level in the VPS. Multicultural women are also over-represented in lower income brackets and under-represented in higher income brackets.[113]
[93] Harmony Alliance, A strategic approach to improving employment outcomes of women from migrant and refugee backgrounds in Australia, Harmony Alliance, 2019. https://www.harmonyalliance.org.au/publications
[94] B Coates, T Wiltshire and T Reysenbach, Short-changed: how to stop the exploitation of migrant workers in Australia, Grattan Institute, Melbourne, 2023.
[95] Department of Home Affairs, Review of the migration system: final report, Australian Government, 2023. https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/reports-and-publications/reviews-and-inq…
[96] Department of Premier and Cabinet, ‘Culturally and linguistically diverse women’, Towards 2025: An Australian Government strategy to boost women’s workforce participation, Commonwealth of Australia, 2017. https://www.agec.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/2017-Government-Work…
[97] Victorian Multicultural Commission, “Meet me in the middle”: facilitating the employment of young multicultural people in post COVID19 Victoria, Victorian Government, 2020, p 18. https://www.multiculturalcommission.vic.gov.au/roundtable-and-research-…
[98] Victorian Multicultural Commission, “Meet me in the middle”: facilitating the employment of young multicultural people in post COVID19 Victoria, p 18.
[99] M Bertrand and S Mullainathan, ‘Are Emily and Greg More Employable Than Lakisha and Jamal? A field experiment on labor market discrimination’, American Economic Review, 2004, 94 (4): 991–1013; L Quillian, A Heath, D Pager, A Midtbøen, F Fleischmann and O Hexel, ‘Do Some Countries Discriminate More than Others? Evidence from 97 Field Experiments of Racial Discrimination in Hiring.’ Sociological Science, 2019, 6: 467–496.
[100] First Peoples–State Relations, ‘Opportunity and prosperity’, Victorian Government Aboriginal affairs report 2022, Victorian Government, 2022. https://www.firstpeoplesrelations.vic.gov.au/victorian-government-abori…
[101] First Peoples–State Relations, Victorian Government Aboriginal affairs report 2022.
[102] First Peoples–State Relations, Victorian Government Aboriginal affairs report 2022.
[103] Women on Boards, Truth be told: (No) cultural diversity on Australian boards, Women on Boards, 2022.
[104] Women on Boards, Truth be told: (No) cultural diversity on Australian boards.
[105] R Whitson, ‘Culturally diverse women paid less, stuck in middle management longer and more likely to be harassed’, ABC News, 12 March 2022. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-12/why-cultural-diversity-matters-i…
[106] M Adamovic and A Leibbrandt, ‘Is there a glass ceiling for ethnic minorities to enter leadership positions? Evidence from a field experiment with over 12,000 job applications’, The Leadership Quarterly, 2023, 34(2): 1–13.
[107] Migrant Workers Centre, Insecure by design: Australia’s migration system and migrant workers’ job market experience, Migrant Workers Centre, Melbourne, 2023. https://www.migrantworkers.org.au/insecure_by_design
[108] M Pallotta-Chiarolli, B Sudarto and J Tang, Navigating intersectionality: multicultural and multifaith LGBTIQ+ Victorians talk about discrimination and affirmation, Australian GLBTIQ Multicultural Council, Victorian Multicultural Commission and Victorian Government, 2021. https://www.agmc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/AGMC_ReportA4P_NIR_Web18may2…
[109] V Mapedzahama, F Laffernis, A Barhoum and J O’Leary, Culturally and racially marginalised women in leadership: A framework for (intersectional) organisational action, Diversity Council Australia, 2023. <https://www.dca.org.au/research/culturally-and-racially-marginalised-ca…;.
[110] Diversity Council Australia, Gari Yala (Speak the Truth): centreing the work experiences of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Australians, 2020.
[111] HYC Yip, J Arnanta, M Munshi, S Lamb, Y Chen and V Pillay, Safer workplaces for women of colour project, Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) Victoria, MindTribes and University of Melbourne, 2022, p 4. https://cpsuvic.org/woc/files/sw-for-woc-research-report.pdf.
[112] Commission for Gender Equality in the Public Sector, Intersectionality at work: building a baseline on compounded gender inequality in the Victorian public sector, Victorian Government, 2023. https://content.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-10/Intersectionalit….
[113] Commission for Gender Equality in the Public Sector, Intersectionality at work: building a baseline on compounded gender inequality in the Victorian public sector.
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