LAO IMMIGRANTS IN AUSTRALIA:
A SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC PROFILE OF THE LAOS-BORN COMMUNITY FROM THE 1991 CENSUS

By: James E. Coughlan

Lecturer in Sociology, Department of Psychology and Sociology, School of Behaviourial Sciences, James Cook University of North Queensland, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia.

Since the mid-1970s Laos has become of increasing importance to Australia. Initially as a source of immigrants, predominantly refugees, and more recently as a growing, but small, market for Australian produce. In 1992-93 Laos was Australia's 85th largest trading partner (Stuart Fox 1994: 191), ahead of Cambodia at 94th position, but behind Myanmar at 77th position.

However, the principal prominence of Laos for Australia over the past two decades has been in the area of immigration. The level of emigration from Laos to Australia has never been enormous. During the early 1990s only about 0.3 per cent of Australia's annual immigrant intake was born in Laos. In mid-1991 there were 9 630 Laos-born people in Australia, accounting for 0.057 per cent of Australia's total population. It is also important to note that almost two-thirds of the Australia's Laos- born community arrived in Australia since before 1986, most between 1980-85, thus indicating that most of this community is relatively new to Australia.

In general there does not appear to be a great deal of public knowledge in Australia concerning Laos, that alone the contemporary nature of emigration from Laos to Australia and the integration of Lao immigrants into Australian society. Part of the reason for this has been the absence of detailed contemporary research material concerning the Lao- Australian community and the under-development of Lao studies in Australia. Recent work by Coughlan (1988-92), Viviani, Coughlan and Rowland (1993) and Wallace (1990) have made some reference to the Lao in Australia, with Phoumindr (1993) and Phoumirath (1993) providing the most comprehensive contemporary scholarship into the Lao- Australian community.

The dearth of easily accessible material concerning the Lao community in Australia is due in part to the short history of critical mass emigration from Laos to Australia, and because there has been almost no scholastic interest directed towards the Lao community in Australia. This article endeavours to counter this blemish by providing a brief demographic and socio-economic profile of the Laos-born community in Australia from the 1991 Australian Census of population and housing. A more comprehensive examination of the 1991 Census data on Lao- Australians, and a thorough discussion of this community, is beyond the scope of this article. Such an exercise needs to be undertaken, preferably with the participation of Lao-Australians.

This article seeks to provide a descriptive, rather than analytical, discussion of the characteristics of the Laos-born community in Australia. Such a position is adopted primarily due to the scarcity of published contemporary material on Lao-Australians and the general lack of knowledge of this community in mainstream Australian society. It is important to realise that the information presented in this article is based on the country of birth of the immigrant, not their country of last residence. Thus people of Hmong, Lao, etc. ethnicity born outside of Laos, such as in Australia or Thailand, are excluded from discussion here. However, it is estimated that in addition to the 9 630 Laos-born people in Australia at mid-1991, an additional 1 460 Lao (including ethnic Hmong, ethnic Lao, ethnic Lao-Chinese, etc.) were born in Australia and about 770 elsewhere, mainly in Thailand. Thus, it is estimated that in mid-1991 there were about 11 860 Lao in Australia, and 12 700 at the end of 1994.

As a final introductory note, the reader will observe that the column totals in some of the following tables may not always agree. The reason for this is that the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), which conducts Australia's population censuses, is careful not to release information which would permit individuals to be identified. Thus the ABS introduces a small random error in the data released to the public. This randomly-induced error results in a probable variation in table population counts. The end result of this is, of course, that the ABS does not produce or release exact population counts for various birthplace groups, and thus we only have an approximate figure on the number of people in Australia born in Laos. However, the ABS suggests that their data should be at least 99.0 per cent accurate (personal communication, ABS Canberra, 1992). An examination of the variations in the column totals in some of the following tables suggests that this ABS-perceived high level of accuracy/consistency may not hold true.

DEMOGRAPHICS OF THE LAOS-BORN COMMUNITY

Table 1 presents data from the 1991 Australian Census on the age-sex profile of the Laos-born community. This data reveal that the Laos-born community is reasonable youthful, primarily due to the short period of time that most of the community has been in Australia, and biases of Australia's immigration policies which favour young families.

Table 1:

Percentage* Distribution of Age of the Laos-born by Gender - 1991 Census

Age Group: 			 	 Gender:	

 (Years)			Male 		Female

-------------------------------------------------------------------------


  0-4				0.6			0.7

 5-12		 		5.9			5.6

13-14				4.9			4.6

15-19				12.3			13.4

20-24				13.3			13.6

25-29				12.6			13.5

30-34				13.7			14.5

35-39				12.4			11.4

40-44				8.2			6.6

45-54				9.1			7.6

55-64				4.1			4.4

65+				2.9			4.4

Total Number			4 882			4 723

Median Age (Years)		30.1			29.5


Sex Ratio**			    103.4

Dependency Ratio**	  	      0.18

___________________________________________________________

Source: ABS (1991 Census - Customised Matrix Tables CSC6180 and CSC6200).

* Percentages may not total 100.0 per cent due to rounding.

** The sex ratio is the number of males per 100 females.

*** The dependency ratio is the proportion of the population that is economically inactive (less than 15 or 65+ years old) to the economically active population (15 to 64 years of age).

The bottom two rows in Table 1 provide information on sex and dependency ratios. The sex ratio figure reveals that the Laos-born community has an excess of males, with there being 2.6 per cent more Laos-born males than females in Australia. A greater number of males in a recent-immigrant community is usual in recently-arrived immigrant communities, though there are exceptions, such as the Philippines and Thailand-born communities in Australia. A close examination of the data indicate that this gender imbalance is most predominant in two age groupings: firstly, a excess of males in the age group 40-54 years old where there are 25.9 per cent more males than females, and secondly for those aged 65+ years old where there are 43.1 per cent more Laos-born females than males. This latter imbalance is a natural demographic processes where females live longer than males, and also due to the recent history of war in Laos.

The very low dependency ratio (0.18) of the Laos-born community, and the very small proportion of the community in retirement age (4.7 per cent of men and women), indicates that a large proportion of the Laos-born community in Australia is in a position to make an economic contribution to the development of Australia. The community's youthfulness, with more than one tenth of the community under fifteen years of age, means that the Laos-born are in a position to continue to participate in the economic advancement of Australia well into the next century.

Table 2 provides data on the marital status of the Laos-born community, and indicates that there is little difference in the distribution of marital status for both genders, except in the proportions never married and widowed. The latter difference is large in both absolute and relative terms as there are ten times more Laos-born widows than widowers. There are also 29.9 per cent more never married males than females, suggesting that about a third of the single Laos-born males currently in Australia will be unable to marry a Laos-born female currently in Australia, if that is their desire, unless they marry Laos-born women in Australia who are substantially younger than themselves. This gender imbalance within the never married group suggests that many young single Lao males may have to return to Laos to search for a wife, or may choose to marry a non-Lao in Australia, if they decide to marry at all.

With respect to inter-birthplace marriage, the 1991 Census data indicate that 14.2 per cent of married Laos-born males have non-Laos- born spouses, and the same percentage of married Laos-born females have non-Laos-born spouses. Thus amongst the married Laos-born group, males are not more likely to have non-Laos-born spouses than married Laos-born females, and thus the gender imbalance amongst the never married Laos-born males may be a significant problem, unless they return to Laos to marry.

Table 2:

Percentage* Distribution of Marital Status of Laos-born Persons Aged 15 or More Years Old by Gender - 1991 Census

Marital Status					Gender

					Male		Female

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Never Married				41.3		32.3

Married					54.8		56.8

Separated but not Divorced		1.7		2.4

Divorced				1.6		2.5

Widowed					0.6		6.0


Total Number				4 300		4 240

______________________________________________

* Percentages may not total 100.0 per cent due to rounding.

However, as we do not known the ethnicity of the partners in marriages where at least one partner was born in Laos, we are unable to quantify the extent of inter-ethnic marriage within Australia's Lao community. Overall, only a very small proportion of the Laos-born community (4.1 per cent) are separated but not divorced or divorced, suggesting that marital and family ties within this community are strong. This situation requires further investigation and monitoring over time as Lao families adapt and integrate into Australian society. Differences in social structure within Lao and Australian society, and variations in family roles and power relations in the two societies, suggest that Lao families may undergo a metamorphosis in Australia, as has been the experience within some immigrant Lao families in the United States of America (USA).

The data presented in Table 3 show that at the time of the 1991 Census the majority of the Laos-born community arrived in Australia during the late 1970s and early 1980s, and thus most of this community is new to Australia.

Table 3:

Percentage* Distribution of Year of Arrival in Australia of the Laos-born by Gender - 1991 Census

Year of Arrival 				Gender

  in Australia				Male		Female

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Prior to 1971				0.9		0.8

1971 - 1975			 	2.0		1.6

1976 - 1980				43.9		45.8

1981 - 1985				21.3		21.5

1986 - 1987				13.5		12.8

1988 - 1989			 	9.9		10.4

1990 - 1991			 	6.6		5.9

Not Stated			 	1.9		1.3


Total Number				4 882		4 723

		

Median Year of Arrival in Australia	1981.5		1981.3

________________________________________________

* Percentages may not total 100.0 per cent due to rounding.

Overall more than half of this community settled in Australia during the past decade. What is most interesting, however, is that almost three-fifths of the Laos-born community reside in New South Wales, as is indicated in Table 4, with the next largest States of Victoria and Queensland accounting for an additional 28.2 per cent of the community. The reason why such a high proportion of the Lao immigrant community is to be found in New South Wales requires scholarly investigation.

Table 4

Percentage* Distribution of State/Territory of Residence of the Laos-born by Gender - 1991 Census

State/Territory of Residence		Gender

					Male 		Female

--------------------------------------------------------------------------


New South Wales				59.7		58.3

Victoria				22.1		23.6

Queensland				5.3		5.4

South Australia				2.1		2.1

Western Australia		 	1.3		1.2

Tasmania			 	1.5		1.6

Northern Territory		 	0.4		0.4

Australian Capital Territory	 	7.7		7.4


Total Number				4 903		4 760


-------------------------------------------------------------------

* Percentages may not total 100.0 per cent due to rounding.

However, a consultation of 1976 and 1981 Census data on the spatial distribution of the Laos-born community in Australia reveals that at the time of these two Censuses the vast majority of the Laos-born community in Australia was located in metropolitan Sydney (Coughlan 1989b). Following previous family reunion migration patterns it is almost certain that the majority of Lao family reunion immigrants who arrived in Australia during the early 1980s joined their family members and settled in Sydney.

Table 5

Local Government Areas (LGAs) with the Greatest Number of Laos-born People and Their Proportion of Australia's Laos-born Population - 1991 Census

Local Government Area 	Number	Proportion of Laos-born 

	(State)				    	in Australia

---------------------------------------------------------------------------


Fairfield City (NSW)		3 716		39.0

Campbelltown City (NSW)		702		7.4

Liverpool City (NSW)	  	270		2.8

Nunawading City (Vic)		234		2.5

Sunshine City (Vic)		190		2.0

Springvale City (Vic)	 	187		2.0

Albury City (NSW)		132		1.4

Knox City (Vic)			132		1.4

Keilor City (Vic)		125		1.3

Oakleigh (Vic)		  	112		1.2

Ipswich City (Qld)		111		1.2

Glenorchy City (SA)		103		1.1

______________________________________________

Source: ABS (1991 Census - Customised Matrix Table USC6013).

Related to the issue of the State/Territory distribution of the Laos-born community is the more specific spatial distribution of this community. Table 5 lists the twelve Local Government Areas (LGA) which have the largest Laos-born communities. Not unexpectedly, considering the data in Table 4, the LGAs with the largest Laos-born communities are mostly located in New South Wales and Victoria, primarily in metropolitan Melbourne and Sydney.

The City of Fairfield in outer western Sydney has by far the largest Laos- born community in Australia (3 716 persons), although they comprise only 2.2 per cent of Canterbury's total population of 171 694 persons, they constitute almost two-fifths of Australia's Laos-born community.

The highest concentration of Laos-born residents in Australia are located in the City of Fairfield and the suburb of Civic in Canberra where the Laos-born residents comprise 2.2 per cent of the total population. These percentages are relatively low and thus the 1991 Census data indicate that the Laos-born community is not concentrated in large ethnic enclaves, as are some of the other recently-arrived immigrant communities, such as the Vietnamese.

However, it may also be worth noting that in 1981 the largest number of Laos-born people in Australia were in the Cities of Fairfield (2 037 people) and Marrickville (347 people), while in 1976 the City of Bankstown had the largest number (165 people) (Coughlan 1989b: 13, 16). This historical data suggest that a small Lao enclave has formed in the City of Fairfield, but this enclave is not a numerically large ethnic concentration, as is more the case with the Vietnamese community.

The data on family composition presented in Table 6 show that 69.5 per cent of the Laos-born community in Australia live in a basic nuclear family situation, viz. a couple and their dependent child(ren), and 17.0 per cent of the families are couples without dependent children (which includes couples without any children, as well as couples with adult non-dependent children). As more than two-thirds of the Lao families in Australia consist of parents and their dependent child(ren), this lends support to the proposition advanced in the previous section that most of the Lao migration encompass young Lao families. An additional 13.4 per cent of Lao families consist of single parent families, a figure substantially higher than that which would have been expected from the marital status data presented in Table 2.

The discrepancy between the data presented in these two Tables suggests that either the data in both or either the Tables is erroneous, or there are large number of never married parents in the Laos-born community. Certainly this issue requires additional investigation. The bottom portion of Table 6 also shows that the average Lao family in Australia comprises 2.8 offspring, and that slightly more than one in two (0.6) of the Laos-born are in a family where a family member is aged 65 or more years old.

Table 6

Percentage* Distribution of Family Type of the Laos-born by Gender - 1991 Census

Family Type						Proportion

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


1 Parent with Dependent Child(ren)				10.8

1 Parent without Dependent Children				2.6

2 Parents with Dependent Child(ren)				69.5

2 Parents without Dependent Children				17.0


Total Number							8 562

		

Median Number of Dependent Offspring in Family		2.76

		

Median Number of People Aged 65+ Years Old in Family	0.58

_________________________________________________

Source: ABS (1991 Census - Customised Matrix Tables CSC6035 and CSC6202).

* Percentages may not total 100.0 per cent due to rounding.

ETHNICITY-RELATED CHARACTERISTICS

The data in Table 7 indicate that over four-sevenths of the Laos- born immigrants in Australia have a very good command of the English language, that is they speak only English or speak English very well or well. As is generally the case for immigrants from Non-English Speaking Background (NESB) countries, the Laos-born men are more proficient in English than the Laos-born women. Considering the significant role of women in the family, especially in overseeing the health and welfare of family members and the nurturing of young children, the poor level of spoken English language proficiency of Lao women must be enhanced as a matter of priority.

Table 7

Percentage* Distribution of Spoken English Language Proficiency of Laos-born Persons Aged 15 Years Old and Over by Gender - 1991 Census

Spoken English Language Proficiency 	Gender

					Male 		Female

_______________________________________________


Speaks Only English			3.2		2.2

English Proficiency		

     Very Well or Well			59.6		49.7

     Not Well				32.3		37.3

     Not At All				4.1		10.1

     Not Stated				0.6		0.6

Not Stated     				0.3		0.2


Total Number				4 300		4 262

____________________________________________

* Percentages may not total 100.0 per cent due to rounding.

Considering the ethnic composition of Laos and the nature of contemporary Lao emigration to Australia it is perhaps not unexpected that 76.7 per cent of the Laos-born community in Australia speak Lao at home, with the majority of the remainder (9.5 per cent) indicating that they spoke a Chinese dialect, predominantly Mandarin. The small proportion of Laos-born community in Australia speaking Vietnamese or French at home could be due to an inter-ethnic marriage involving people of Vietnamese or French ethnicity, or more than likely, considering Laos' geographic location and former colonisation by France and Viet Nam, these French and Vietnamese speakers are probably people of French or Vietnamese ancestry born in Laos.

Table 8:

Percentage* Distribution of Principal Languages Spoken at Home (in Addition to English, if English is Spoken) of Laos-born Persons by Gender - 1991 Census

Principal Language Spoken at Home		Gender

					Male 		Female

------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Only English				3.5		2.3

Chinese Dialects			9.0		10.1

Filipino Languages			0.1		0.1

French					0.7		0.3

Indonesian/Malay			0.1	

Khmer					0.1		0.1

Korean					0.1

Lao					77.0		76.5

Vietnamese				3.0		3.9

Other Languages				5.8		5.9

Not Stated				0.7		0.7


Total Number				4 903		4 760

____________________________________________

Source: ABS (1991 Census - Customised Matrix Table CSC6015).

*	Percentages may not total 100.0 per cent due to rounding.



	The data presented in Table 8 largely confirms the 1986 Census 
data on language spoken at home by the Laos-born community in 
Australia (Coughlan 1990b: 83), with there being only a small reduction in 
the proportion of Chinese language speakers between the two censuses.  
An examination of 1986 Census ancestry data revealed that in mid-1986 
about 17.8 per cent of the Laos-born community in Australia were of 
Chinese ancestry, 4.9 per cent of Vietnamese ancestry and 0.1 per cent of 
French ancestry (Coughlan 1988: 26-27), and we may expect that the 
current ancestry profile of the Laos-born community to be similar to that 
in 1986.

EDUCATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS


	  This section on educational characteristics addresses two 
aspects of education - the median age left school and highest level of post-
secondary qualifications obtained.  These variables are important as they 
not only provide an indication of the amount of formal education received, 
but they also present an insight into possible labour force performance and 
the potential pattern for integration into Australian society.  With these 
issues in mind the data presented in Table 9 offer a mixed picture.  


	Table 9


Percentage* Distribution of Highest Level of Qualifications and 
Median Age Left School of Laos-born Persons Aged 15 Years Old 
and Over by Gender - 1991 Census


Highest Level of Qualification 			
						Gender

Obtained				Male 		Female

_____________________________________________


Higher Degree				0.6		0.1

Postgraduate Diploma			0.4		0.3

Bachelor Degree				3.2		2.0

Undergraduate Diploma			1.7		1.6

Associate Diploma			0.9		1.2

Skilled Vocational			2.9		1.0

Basic Vocational			1.4		2.6

No Qualifications			79.6		82.7

Not Stated				9.3		8.6


Total Number				4 331		4 223
	

Median Age Left School (Years Old)	18.6		17.5

___________________________________________

* Percentages may not total 100.0 per cent due to rounding.

The median age left school data suggest that the majority of the Laos-born community in Australia have not completed secondary education, with females, on average, having completed about one year less formal education than males. The data on median age left school is, however, often misleading with respect to refugee communities, especially communities such as the Lao where many Lao in Australia spent several years in refugee camps in Thailand, where there were few educational facilities. As we know, many Lao who came to Australia as teenagers often completed their high school at an age a few years older than mainstream Australians, and thus the median age left school data in Table 9 cannot be used as a reliable indicator of the highest level of schooling completed by the Lao community in Australia.

Overall, 81.1 per cent of the Laos-born community do not have post-secondary qualifications, with females being slightly more likely than males to be without post-secondary qualifications. This situation may be expected as the data on median age left school suggests that probably no more than two-fifths of the Laos-born community in Australia have completed secondary school. In addition, at the time of the 1991 Census, only 14.5 per cent of the Laos-born community in Australia were attending post-secondary educational institutions, with 4.6 per cent at universities.

These three sets of data suggest that the Laos-born community in Australia is not as well educated compared to most other communities in Australia, and that a low proportion of the adult community are undergoing post-secondary education. Clearly there is a need for the Lao community, and Australian governments, to encourage more Lao students to complete their education and to continue on to higher education.

However, while possessing academic qualifications is critical, it is just as important to look at the type of qualifications obtained, as it is the type of qualification which provides a better indication of the level of formal training within the community. A slight difficulty with the data presented in Table 9 is that 8.9 per cent of the Laos-born community with post-secondary qualifications did not specify what specifically these qualifications were, i.e. whether they were certificates, degrees or diplomas. Only 0.7 per cent of the Laos-born community have post- bachelor degrees or diplomas, with an additional 2.6 per cent possessing bachelor degrees and another 2.7 per cent with diplomas. Women born in Laos are more likely to have associate diplomas and basic vocational certificates than males, while the converse occurs with respect to university degrees, undergraduate diplomas and skilled vocational certificates. With respect to formal education, it may be concluded from these figures that Laos-born males are substantially better qualified than women born in Laos.

Overall, the Laos-born community in Australia has a much lower proportion of its population with post-secondary qualifications than the rest of the Asian-born community in Australia and Australia's population overall, and thus may be considered as a poorly educated community. Thus it needs to be stressed again, that Lao community leaders and government policy makers need to develop and implement policies and procedures to ensure that more young Lao complete their secondary education and progress to tertiary studies, especially at the university level. If such policies and procedures are not implemented then the Lao community in Australia will be educationally, and probably occupationally, severely disadvantaged with respect to the broader community. Part of this handicap is illustrated in the following section.

LABOUR FORCE CHARACTERISTICS

One of the most important factors influencing the general integration of recently-arrived immigrants into a new society is their ability to be able to support themselves and their families. It is economic self- sufficiency and independence from the welfare system which facilitates economic integration, one of the important phases of overall integration. Table 10 provides data on the labour force status profile of the Laos-born community in Australia. The upper portion of the Table provides data on the general labour force status of this community, though the more important data are the labour force participation and unemployment rates. The overall labour force participation rate of 66.7 per cent is high for a community with the demographic profile of the Laos-born community.

The main reason for this relatively high rate of labour force participation is the strong desire of this community to economically establish itself in Australia, and the low proportion of the Laos-born community attending educational institutions. As was implied earlier, although the low proportion of Lao immigrants attending educational institutions at this time may be perceived as being of short-term benefit to the Lao community, there are median- and long-term economic drawbacks to this lack of human capital enhancement, which includes a higher probability of medium- to long-term unemployment and welfare dependency.

Table 10

Percentage* Distribution of Labour Force Status of Laos-born Persons Aged 15 Years Old and Over by Gender - 1991 Census

Labour Force Status				
						Gender

					Male 		Female

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Employed				52.0		37.5

Unemployed				21.9		20.5

Not in the Labour Force			25.7		40.1

Not Stated				0.4		1.9


Total Number				4 300		4 240

		

Labour Force 

Participation Rate			74.2		59.1

Unemployment				29.7		35.4


Median Year of Arrival in 

Australia of the Unemployed		1983.3		1984.8

_____________________________________________

* Percentages in the upper portion of this table may not total 100.0 per cent due to rounding.

The unemployment rate of 32.2 per cent for the Laos-born community is well above the national figure of 10.6 per cent at the time of the 1991 Census, though lower than the 39.7 per cent of the Cambodia and Viet Nam-born communities. However, the unemployment rate of the Laos-born community may be regarded as very high considering the period of time that most members of the community have been in Australia. As we have noted, the unemployment rate is higher than the national rate in Australia at the time of the 1991 Census, and is about eleven percentage points higher than that of the total Asia-born community in Australia.

This Table also presents data on the median period of residence in Australia of those unemployed, and when this data is examined in conjunction with the data in Table 3, indicate that most of those who are unemployed are the more recent arrivals in Australia, a phenomenon which is present in most other immigrant communities. An examination of unemployment rate by period of residence in Australia shows that the unemployment rate of recently-arrived Laos-born immigrants is also higher than that of most other recently-arrived immigrant groups, and thus their total unemployment rate of 32.2 per cent is a matter for concern at this time.

Table 11

Percentage* Distribution of Status of Laos-born Workers by Gender - 1991 Census

Status of Worker				Gender

					Male 		Female

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Wage/Salary Earner			91.4		89.2

Self-Employed			 	4.7		6.2

Employer			 	3.5		3.5

Unpaid Helper			 	0.4		1.1


Total Number				2 236		1 588

____________________________________________

* Percentages may not total 100.0 per cent due to rounding.

There certainly needs to be more research conducted in order to ascertain why it is that Laos-born unemployment rates have remained so high. A brief examination of additional data suggest that English language proficiency is an important factor here, and thus the government decision to reduce English as a Second Language (ESL) classes since the mid- 1980s has had a detrimental effect on the Laos-born community. Normally, once recently-arrived immigrants have had time to enhance their English language skills and become more familiar with the functioning of Australian labour markets, then the community unemployment rate should decline. Clearly this is not happening with the Laos-born community, and we need to know why this is the situation.

Table 12: Percentage* Distribution of Occupation and Median Number of Hours Worked Per Week of the Laos-born Workers by Gender - 1991 Census

Occupation					Gender

					Male 		Female

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Managers and Administrators		4.3		4.1

Professionals				4.6		5.2

Para-Professionals			2.0		2.9

Tradespersons				14.4		3.7

Clerks				 	7.0		15.7

Personal Service and Sales Workers	4.4		8.1

Plant and Machine Operators		22.7		17.5
 
and Drivers	
Labourers and Related Workers		31.2		30.4

Inadequately Described			1.7		1.8

Not Stated			 	7.8		10.5

Total Number				2 257		1 603

		

Median Number of Hours Worked Per Week  39.7		38.4
 
____________________________________________

Source: ABS (1991 Census - Customised Matrix Table CSC6030).

* Percentages may not total 100.0 per cent due to rounding.

The status of worker profile of the Laos-born workers in Table 11 reveals that a high 90.5 per cent of the Laos-born workers are wage/salary earners, while a low 5.3 per cent are self- employed, and 3.5 per cent are employers, with only 0.7 per cent of the workers being unpaid helpers. These figures indicate that fewer than one-in-eleven of the Lao workers in Australia are directly engaged in some form of business activity, an expected proportion considering the short period of time that most of this community has been in Australia and the refugee background of most of the community. The data indicate that females are more likely than males to be self-employed, often in the form of out-work, or being unpaid helpers, assisting in family businesses.

Table 12 shows the occupational distribution of the Laos-born workers in Australia and the median number of hours they work each week in their main job. The Laos-born workers have a low occupational status with only 8.9 [22.3] per cent of males and 9.3 [36.0] per cent of females employed as professionals, viz. manager/administrator and professional [white-collar workers, viz. manager/administrator, professional, para- professional, clerk and personal service and sales worker]. These figures reveal that female workers born in Laos are slightly more likely to be professionals than male workers, and substantially more likely than males to be employed in white collar occupations. More specifically, female workers born in Laos are much more likely to be employed as para-professionals, clerks and personal service and sales workers than males born in Laos, though males only slightly dominate in the high status manager/administrator and professional occupations. The average Laos-born worker works about 39.1 hours per week, which is the same as the total Asia-born work force in Australia. The formally employed working week (disregarding the long hours of unpaid domestic work) of Laos-born women is only 3.3 per cent shorter than their male counterparts, which may be expected due to the fact that only 19.2 per cent of female Laos-born workers are engaged in part-time employment, compared to 13.0 per cent of male workers born in Laos.

Of equal importance as occupation is industry of employment. Table 13 shows that the Laos-born workers are largely found in three industrial sectors, viz. manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade and community services, with manufacturing being the most dominant industry, containing 43.4 per cent of employed Laos-born workers. However, this latter figure is likely to be somewhat higher in reality as a high 12.4 per cent of Laos-born workers did not respond to the industry of employment question on the 1991 Census schedule. With such a high non-response rate the proportions in the industrial profile of the Laos-born workers discussed in this and the following paragraph need to be considered with some caution.

Considering the recency of Lao immigration to Australia, and that a high proportion of those who settled in Australia in the late 1970s and early 1980s came as refugee and family reunion immigrants, it may be expected that the manufacturing sector be one of the areas of high industrial concentration for the Laos-born workers. This industry has traditionally been the initial employment sector of the majority of NESB immigrants to Australia in the post-Second World War period. In addition, considering that about one-sixth of the Laos-born community in Australia is ethnic Chinese, it is not unreasonable to expect that a fair concentration of Laos-born workers would be located in the wholesale and retail trade sector.

Table 13

Percentage* Distribution of Industry of Employment of the Laos-born

by Gender - 1991 Census

Industry of Employment			Gender

					Male 		Female

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Agriculture				0.3		 0.6

Mining					0.5	

Manufacturing				45.8		40.0

Electricity, Gas and Water		0.6	

Construction				1.4		0.6

Wholesale and Retail Trade		13.8		13.2

Transport and Storage			3.4		1.5

Communications				4.1		2.5

Financial, Property and -	 	4.7		8.5

Business Services.
Public Administration and Defence	3.7		4.9

Community Services			4.8		9.5

Recreational and Personal Services	4.0		5.5

Not Classifiable			1.1		0.4

Not Stated				11.9		13.1

Total Number				2 254		1 577

____________________________________________

* Percentages may not total 100.0 per cent due to rounding.

In this regard it is interesting to note that the 1991 Census data on the proportions of Laos-born workers employed in the wholesale and retail trade (13.5 per cent) and community services (6.7 per cent) sectors are very similar as at the time of the 1986 Census, though the proportion in manufacturing has declined from 53.6 per cent in 1986 to 43.4 per cent in 1991 (Viviani, Coughlan and Rowland 1993: 60). However, at the same time, the non- response rate has increased by almost eight percentage points to 12.4 per cent, indicating, again, a certain degree of unreliability with the 1991 Census data on this topic. The low proportion of Laos-born workers in the community services sector (6.7 per cent) is probably a result of the recency of the arrival of this community in Australia, and because only a small proportion of this community have received the formal qualifications required to be employed in some of the jobs in this sector, despite the demands that the community is placing on the Australian welfare system. The high unemployment rate of the Laos-born community suggests that more Lao need to be employed in the community services sector.

INCOME AND HOUSING CHARACTERISTICS

One of the most important general indicators of economic success is level of individual income. However, while individual income may provide some indication of the economic well-being of individuals, it is not necessarily a reliable indication of the economic well-being of families and households. Unfortunately the limitations of space dictate that this article address only individual income, and not the important family and household income variables. Table 14 provides data on the income distribution of the Laos-born community in Australia at the time of the 1991 Census. In this Table the income data includes gross incomes gained from government transfer payments, investments and paid employment, and does not take into account whether the person is employed, retired, studying, unemployed, or otherwise not in the labour force. The overall median income of this community is $12 646, which is 6.0 per cent lower than the median annual income of the total Asia-born population of Australia at the time.

The income of Laos-born women is almost half that of males born in Laos, a result primarily due to the lower labour force participation rate and higher unemployment rate of Laos-born women. In general, the Laos-born community exhibits an income distribution which is skewed to a slightly higher level than the median situation in Australia at the time of the 1991 Census.

Table 14

Percentage* Distribution of Annual Individual Income (in 1991 Dollars) of the Laos-born by Gender - 1991 Census

Annual Individual Income 			Gender

(1991 Dollars)				Male 		Female

_________________________________________________


Less than $3,001			9.2		15.1

$3,001 - 5,000				6.9		8.5

$5,001 - 8,000				16.8		18.5

$8,001 - 12,000				4.8		8.2

$12,001 - 16,000			 9.4		9.9

$16,001 - 20,000			17.0		14.3

$20,001 - 25,000			17.3		7.9

$25,001 - 30,000			5.7		2.7

$30,001 - 40,000			4.6		1.6

$40,001+				1.6		0.2

Not Stated				6.7		13.1


Total Number				4 322		4 220


Median Annual Individual 

	Income (1991 Dollars)		$16 817		$8 873


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* Percentages may not total 100.0 per cent due to rounding.

Data on the income distribution of Laos-born workers is provided in Table 15, and this data indicate that the incomes of females are 13.5 per cent lower than that of males. An analysis of data not presented here indicates that this gender differential in individual incomes is primarily due to their shorter working hours and over-representation in the lower salaried jobs within the various occupational categories listed in Table 12.

Table 15

Percentage* Distribution of Annual Individual Income (in 1991 Dollars) of Employed Laos-born Workers by Gender - 1991 Census

Annual Individual Income		Gender 

(1991 Dollars)			Male		Female

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Less than $5,001		2.8		4.1

$5,001 - 8,000			1.7		2.7

$8,001 - 12,000			2.3		6.3

$12,001 - 16,000		10.7		19.1

$16,001 - 20,000		27.0		33.5

$20,001 - 25,000		31.2		19.0

$25,001 - 30,000		10.3		6.7

$30,001 - 35,000		4.7		2.8

$35,001 - 40,000		3.8		0.9

$40,001+			3.0		0.7

Not Stated			2.6		4.3

Total Number			2 247		1 662

Median Annual Individual Income 

of Workers  (1991 Dollars)	$20 680		$17 875

_______________________________________

* Percentages may not total 100.0 per cent due to rounding.

Another indicator of economic success is the nature of dwelling occupancy. The data in Table 16 reveal that 40.9 per cent of the Laos- born community reside in dwellings that are owned or being purchased, a finding which is somewhat surprising considering the short period of time that this predominantly refugee community has been in Australia. Of the 44.2 per cent of the Laos-born in rental accommodation, 54.0 per cent are in government-owned dwellings, with the remainder renting in the private sector. Thus, overall a high 23.2 per cent of this community are residing in government rental accommodation.

Table 16

Percentage* Distribution of Nature of Dwelling Occupancy of Laos-born People 1991 Census

Nature of Dwelling Occupancy	 		        
Proportion

--------------------------------------------------------------


Owned						14.7

Being Purchased					26.2

Rented						44.2

Other or Not Stated				4.1

Not Applicable					0.9


Total Number					9 652

		

Median Number of Bedrooms in Dwelling		 3.38

Median Number of People in Dwelling		5.36


---------------------------------------------------------------------------

* Percentages may not total 100.0 per cent due to rounding.

The bottom portion of Table 16 also indicates that the average dwelling occupied by the Laos-born community has 3.38 bedrooms and Lao households in Australia comprises an average of 5.36 people, giving a figure of 1.6 people per bedroom, and thus suggesting that crowding, by Australian standards, is not a significant problem in the Lao community.

DISCUSSION

This article has provided a concise summary of the Laos-born community in Australia, and has revealed that this community in Australia is young, with over half the community under 30 years of age, and just under five per cent in retirement age. The youthfulness of this community signifies that the majority of its members may be in a position to continue to make a contribution to the economic development of Australia well into the twenty first century. The low level of formal education of members of the Lao-Australian community, and their current low participation in educational courses, suggests that the real potential of this community may not be realised, with long-term high unemployment being a genuine possibility.

The 29.4 per cent increase in the size of the Laos-born population of Australia between 1986 and 1991 and the steadily decreasing proportion of Laos-born immigrants in Australia's annual immigration intake, as Australia disengages in the resettlement of Indochinese refugees, suggests that the size of the Lao community will only slowly increase over the short-term, as long as current demographic and immigration trends are maintained. In relation to this issue, the current family composition profile of the Laos-born community is a result of the demographic structure of the community, as well as the characteristics and nature of emigration from Laos to Australia and the period of time that members of the community have been in Australia.

The Laos-born immigrants in Australia have a fair level of spoken proficiency in the English language, compared to other recent immigrant groups from a NESB. Other factors considered, such as the community being predominantly refugee and humanitarian immigrants rather than economic migrants, their low level of formal education and weak ongoing participation in formal educational programmes, would tend to indicate that Lao immigrants are going to continue to place demand on Australian welfare institutions over the short-term, as are most other refugee communities. In addition, as 68.5 per cent of the Laos-born workers are employed in blue collar occupations and 43.4 per cent are employed in the rapidly shrinking manufacturing sector, Lao immigrants may also be expected to have a lesser chance of retaining employment at a time when various industry sectors of the Australian economy are undergoing significant restructuring. In times of economic restructuring and rapid economic and technological change, it is often the possession of post- secondary educational qualifications that will assist in the maintenance of employment, and, as we have noted, this is an area where the Laos-born community is deficient. At the same time, immigrants who are proficient in English have a greater chance of adapting to, and integrating into, mainstream multicultural Australian society than other immigrants who have a low level of spoken English language proficiency, and who do not possess a good level of formal education. The problems of integration into Australian society relate not only to the sphere of contact with mainstream multicultural Australia society, but problems may also arise within the family. One particular problem which is frequently encountered within NESB families is where mature immigrants are confronted with inter-cultural conflicts, not only in the general community, but also within the family between overseas-educated parents and their Australian- educated children.

The Laos-born community exhibits an above average labour force participation rate and a well above average unemployment rate, both of which are primarily due to their recent arrival in Australia as predominantly humanitarian immigration. This community's high labour force participation rate is mostly a result of the very low proportion of the Laos-born community attending educational institutions, especially universities. This would suggest that in the near future only a very small proportion of Lao immigrants in Australia will be heading into professional and other white collar occupations. At the current time, due to their weak level of education and fair proficiency in spoken English, the Laos-born workers have a low occupational status. Once members of this community become more economically and socially established in Australia, and their educational credentials are enhanced, then their occupational status may be expected to increase markedly.

CONCLUSION

The last quarter of the twentieth century has witnessed the demise of national economies and the rise of regional and global economies. This change in global economic structures has also heralded a substantial increase in the global movement of human capital; a movement which is both permanent and temporary in nature. The desire of Australian governments to see Australia as part of the dynamic Pacific Rim economy has contributed to a greater movement of people between Australia and Asia. Part of this movement is the permanent emigration of people from Laos to Australia.

This article has provided a brief overview of the principal attributes of the Laos-born community in Australia. The overall youthfulness, low education and high unemployment rate of the Laos-born community indicates that this community is making a mixed contribution to the economic development and social evolution of Australia, with significant sections of the community being largely economically dependent upon government welfare programmes.

The future size and composition of the Laos-born community in Australia is largely dependent upon the nature and characteristics of Australia's immigration policies in the coming years, and to a lesser degree on political changes in the South East Asia region, as well as the global economic situation, especially in Australia, Canada and the United States of America, the main destinations of Asian immigrants. However, there can be little doubt that the size of the Laos-born community in Australia will continue to increase at least until the end of the millennia. The magnitude of this increase will be determined by immigration policies to be implemented over the next few years and the desire of people in Laos to emigrate to other countries outside the region.

Analysis of the 1986 Australian Census data (Coughlan 1990a, 1991a, 1992b; Coughlan and Thatcher 1992; Viviani, Coughlan and Rowland 1993) indicates that ethnicity is an important factor in discussing the Laos-born community in Australia, as the resettlement experiences of ethnic Chinese, Hmong and Lao who were born in Laos is very different. The absence of an ancestry question on the 1991 Census schedule has severely restricted this article's ability to comprehensively discuss the actual situation of the Laos-born community in Australia.

This article is based primarily on insensitive statistical data from the 1991 Census, and is thus largely unsympathetic to the human situation of Lao-Australians. Some Lao-Australians, such as the ethnic Hmong, have suffered extensive discrimination in Laos, and a large number of Lao- Australians have spent many years in inhospitable refugee camps in Thailand. They have come from one of the most underdeveloped countries in the world, to one of the most advanced. This transition has been difficult, and will continue to be so in the coming years, as the above statistical analysis clearly indicates. However, despite these difficulties, Lao-Australians are making a contribution to Australia's future, and, when we compare the statistical data on Cambodian- and Vietnamese- Australians with that of the Lao-Australians, the Lao-Australians are economically far more successful than these other two groups. Indeed, when examining the literature on the Lao in France and Northern America, it is clear that Lao settlement in Australia has been more successful than in most other countries, with the possible exception of the Hmong in French Guyana.

The author is not a Lao-Australian, and cannot speak Lao, although he has visited Laos on a couple of occasions. There is an urgent lead for more Lao-Australians, such as Phoumindr and Phoumirath, to conduct research into the Lao community in Australia and to publish their findings in order to assist the integration of the Lao community into Australian society. Young educated Lao-Australians are the future leaders of the Lao community in Australia, and in order to ensure that the Lao community and culture will survive and flourish in multicultural Australia, Lao elders and parents should try to ensure that more young Lao achieve a university education in Australia.

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