Australian aboriginal unemployment stands at somewhere between 45 percent and 80 percent, a situation caused, according to certain observers, by aboriginal attitudes and values regarding work and by educational disadvantage, not by anything in the working environment. According to this view, aborigines are said to be lacking in motivation, to attach little value to work, to be "by nature" noncompetitive, and to show minimal concern for their future well-being. Research contradicts these popular beliefs. Educational disadvantage limits opportunities for employment in white collar and professional jobs and in some circumstances may preclude training, but it should neither limit employment in semiskilled and laboring jobs nor affect opportunities for on-the-job training and apprenticeships. Yet, for aborigines it does both. Research and anecdotal evidence suggest that discrimination is a major contributing factor to aboriginal unemployment. Furthermore, government-sponsored regional employment and training programs, which subsidize employers who train or make provision for training aborigines, have increased aboriginal job placements dramatically and are strong evidence that unemployment is due partially to employers' reluctance to hire aborigines. Aboriginal unemployment, then, must be viewed mainly within the broader context of unequal opportunity in recruitment, training, and work conditions, and not as something done to aborigines by themselves. (CMG)