EEO Benchmarks and Targets

Progress for EEO groups is benchmarked against their estimated representation in the NSW working age population (ages 15 to 64). These benchmarks are currently:

• 50% for women
• 2% for Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders
• 12% for people with a disability
• 7% for people with a disability who require work-related adjustments
• 19% for people whose first language was not English.

Data sources

NSW population benchmarks for women and people whose first language was not English are based on Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data from the 2001 Census of Population and Housing. As the Census does not capture information about language first spoken as a child, the estimate for people whose first language was not English is based on the count of people born in countries in which English is not the main language. This population, while not identical, provides the best available approximation for the purposes of benchmarking.

The population benchmark for people with a disability is derived from the ABS Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers (1998) and consists of persons who:

• live in households
• are aged between 15 and 64 years
• have a disability which is likely to last 6 months or more
• are not retired or attending school, and
• are not permanently unable to work.

The question on disability in the standard EEO data collection form used by NSW public sector agencies is closely modelled on the questions used in the ABS survey. However, while the ABS survey establishes a respondent's disability status based on their answers to a range of questions relating to different types of disability, the EEO form uses a single question containing a list of examples derived from the ABS questions. It is acknowledged that these different forms of questioning do not necessarily produce identical counts. However, the complexities of the ABS question modules, and the privacy concerns relating to the provision of detailed information when respondents are identifiable, make them unsuitable for use within an administrative data collection.

People with a disability requiring workplace adjustment tend to experience higher levels of employment disadvantage than other members of the EEO group and this provides a clearer indication of changes in the underlying levels of disadvantage affecting the EEO group generally.
Because the need for adjustment at work has no direct equivalent outside the employment field, comparisons with general population data require use of a surrogate measure. ABS data on "employment restriction" is used to estimate the extent of the potential need for adjustment at work amongst the NSW population.