This paper examines the employment representation of non-English-speaking background (NESB) immigrants in the Australian public sector. It explores the extent to which the (federal) Australian Public Service (APS) legislation for managing diversity and equity has influenced employment outcomes of NESB employees in the APS. Drawing from APS Commission reports and APS Statistical Bulletins from 2001 to 2015, our findings indicate that the general representation of APS employees from NESB (first- and second-generation immigrants) is trending slowly upward. However, first-generation NESB immigrants’ representation had only increased from 3.1% in 2001 to 5.1% in the decade to 2011. These proportions are well below the broader workforce representation of first-generation NESB employees of 16%. The NESB group also remains significantly under-represented at the executive level, indicating limited impact by the Australian Public Service Act (PSA) on the employment outcomes of employees from NESB. Such findings raise serious questions around low levels of cultural diversity in the APS. Our study indicates that progress towards increasing such diversity remains slow and problematic. We draw on institutional theory to help explain why this may be the case, and suggest future directions for research and policy.

中文翻译：

---

进展缓慢且不平衡：澳大利亚公共服务中非英语背景雇员的代表

本文研究了非英语背景 (NESB) 移民在澳大利亚公共部门的就业代表性。它探讨了（联邦）澳大利亚公共服务 (APS) 管理多元化和公平的立法对 APS 中 NESB 员工的就业结果的影响程度。根据 2001 年至 2015 年的 APS 委员会报告和 APS 统计公报，我们的调查结果表明，来自 NESB（第一代和第二代移民）的 APS 员工的总体代表性正在缓慢上升。然而，第一代 NESB 移民的代表仅从 2001 年的 3.1% 增加到 2011 年之前的 5.1%。这些比例远低于第一代 NESB 员工 16% 的更广泛劳动力代表。NESB 集团在执行层面的代表性仍然严重不足，这表明澳大利亚公共服务法案 (PSA) 对 NESB 员工的就业结果影响有限。这些发现对 APS 中低水平的文化多样性提出了严重的问题。我们的研究表明，增加这种多样性的进展仍然缓慢且存在问题。我们利用制度理论来帮助解释为什么会出现这种情况，并建议未来的研究和政策方向。