Indigenous educational and employment disadvantage is a much researched and discussed subject. The latest Prime Minister's Closing the Gap report (DPM&C 2017) shows that, while the gap is slowly decreasing in regard to participation in tertiary education, reducing employment disparity, particularly in remote areas, lags behind. This is despite clear evidence that higher levels of education lead to higher levels of employment. This research summary provides an overview of the extensive research undertaken on the topic over recent years. It brings together the key findings to highlight current evidence on what works, with a particular focus on vocational education and training (VET). This summary is part of a suite of papers and interactive products that look at Indigenous participation in VET and employment, and other outcomes--from the data, research and policy perspectives. This paper provides a contextual background to Indigenous participation in VET and employment, with the aim of setting the scene for the research reports "Indigenous VET participation, completion and outcomes: change over the past decade" (Windley 2017) and "Enhancing training advantage for remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander learners" (Guenther et al. 2017). The reports and other related products are available at <https://www.ncver.edu.au/>.