The Australian Employment Covenant, an initiative launched by mining entrepreneur, Andrew Forrest, claims it has passed its target of finding 50,000 jobs for Indigenous Australians, but is calling for increased government commitment to training to enable the jobs to be filled.

 

Nearly 270 companies have signed up to the covenant, offering more than 55,000 jobs, but so far less than 4,200 of the positions have been filled.

 

Mr Forrest said that job-specific training would be needed to fill the available jobs.

 

The AEC was established in 2008 with funding support of $4 million from the Federal Government. Under the terms of the agreement, the AEC will be paid $82.50 for each of the first 25,000 job commitments, and $44 for the next 25,000.  As part of its role, the AEC assists participating companies to prepare  covenant action plans and with recruiting and community engagement programs.

 

The AEC website, www.fiftythousandjobs.org.au, has a jobs board with 900 vacancies for indigenous people.