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The release of the final results for the 2001 census enables an assessment of the net change in employment outcomes for Indigenous Australians for the period 1996-2001. This paper uses demographic techniques to make valid comparisons over time, and hence facilitate estimates of future employment levels against projected population growth. The 2001 census data reveal no improvement in the overall position of Indigenous people in the labour market since 1996. As the Indigenous working-age population is increasing, new estimates of future job growth suggest a lowering of employment rates and rising unemployment over the rest of this decade. Overall, the current fiscal cost of this failure to remove Indigenous employment disparity is huge. In 2001 it was estimated to be around 0.5 per cent of Australia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The findings of this new analysis point to an even higher cost in the future.