WISE Employment - Job Network

Unemployment rate for job seekers with disability

Best employment figures in 33 years do not translate for job seekers with a disability.

While Australia enjoys the lowest unemployment rate in 33 years at 4.2% but job seekers with a disability fare far worse at with an average unemployment rate of 8.6%. Penrith job seekers with a disability also face the challenge of accessing appropriate transport to get them to a job.

WISE Employment’s Regional Manager for New South Wales, Brenda Odewahn, works with job seekers with a disability and other significant barriers to employment in the Penrith area. The WISE Employment team (formerly Active Employment) recently celebrated its first birthday as ‘WISE Employment’ in the Penrith community with their job seekers and local community groups on 21 June. The local Indigenous community participated in the birthday celebrations with local elder Aunty Gloria Matthews providing the "welcome to country", and everyone will be encourage to provide their input by helping design a Aboriginal Painting to mark the occasion.

“One of the challenges for our clients is access to transport and money to pay for that transport,” Brenda said. “Many of our clients don’t have a car, but for many of the jobs available in Penrith you really need your own transport.”

“Many of our clients also feel they have to deal with employers perceptions about people with a disability - that they might not be able to work, or might take up too much sick leave.”

Despite this, she believes that the job seekers are keen to work.

“While it is true that many of our job seekers are disadvantaged in many ways, we shouldn’t confuse that with people not wanting to work,” she said.

“Many studies have shown employees with a disability have less occupational health and safety incidents than employees without a disability, and they have excellent productivity and attendance rates.”

“Our job seekers in Penrith - they may have a disability but it doesn’t stop them from being a productive employee,” Brenda said.

“Like anyone else, Penrith job seekers with a disability want to be taken seriously by employers and their local community - they just need someone to give them a chance.”

“Our clients can be school leavers or people in their 60s - they come from a range of nationalities and may be highly disadvantaged - but they all really want a job.”