The National Employment Services Association says First Nations people and other disadvantaged Australians are being left out of record low unemployment figures.

Last week the Australian Bureau of Statistics data reported unemployment remained at a record low 3.9 percent in May.

But NESA principal policy advisor Annette Gill said the real numbers were much higher.

"They focus so narrowly on the official unemployment rate to talk about how well our labour market is doing," she said.

"And that's a choice the politicians have, basically.

"It's not something many Australians actually understand.

"(The employment) rate among Indigenous Australians is considerably lower than it is for the rest of the population."

NESA senior policy advisor Alicia Weiderman said many First Nations people had historically been excluded from statistical analysis such as employment figures.

"What we still know, though, at the high level on the data, as it is reported, is that historically Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander peoples unemployment rates have sat fairly consistently at three times that of their non Indigenous counterparts," she said.

"Discrimination is a factor in the employment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

"That is ever so slowly changing so that disparity you know is trending in the right way, but not rapidly."

The Australian Institute for Health and Welfare's most recent report indicated employment rates of 79 percent for First Nations people with a bachelor's degree compared to those with a certificate three or four at 59 percent.

Those who failed to pass year nine in school had an employment rate of 22 per cent.

"(Education) has such a dramatic impact on employment prospects," Ms Gill said.

"When you when you've got high levels of First Nations, people who've been disadvantaged through the education system, and they're starting off with low level skills it's a big barrier."

In more positive news, research found Indigenous employment in regional areas, education, government, social services, health and construction stood out.

"That footprint of work is typically national so regional, metropolitan, even remote locations all have government or government related services," Ms Weiderman said.

"Government related services, probably for a much longer time, have had stronger affirmative action policies in place to try and work with and support Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander people into that work."

The ABS released its most recent employment statistics on June 16.