Australia
The Volunteering Rate and Trends
Volunteering rate, which is the number of volunteers in a group expressed as a percentage of the group’s total population, in Australia has increased over time.
In 1995, 3.2 million volunteers or 24% of the population aged 18 years and over volunteered. In 2000, 4.4 million people volunteered, representing 32% of the population. In 2006, 34% of Australia’s population volunteered, representing 5.2 million people.
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Men and women have shown similar volunteering rates with women generally being slightly higher. While 23% of men volunteered in 1995, this rose to 31% in 2000 and 32% in 2006. Over the same period, 24% of women volunteered in 1995 rising to 33% in 2000 and 38% in 2006.
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Volunteering growth was greatest between 1995 and 2000 then lessened in 2006. With little exception there has been growth across all age groups for both men and women. Those aged 18-24 years have shown the greatest increase in volunteering rate, increasing from 17% in 1995 to 27% in 2000 and 32% in 2006. There was a slight decline in volunteering among men aged 55-64 from 33% in 2000 to 28% 2006.
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While the pattern of volunteering varies across age groups, in general people aged 35-44 years have been those most likely to volunteer. In 1995, 31% of people in this group volunteered, rising to 40% in 2000 and 44% in 2006. Women show a higher volunteering rate than men with half of all women in this group volunteering in 2006 compared with 38% of men.
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Volunteer Hours
Just as the number of people volunteering has grown over time, so has the overall amount of time contributed to the community. The total annual hours that volunteers gave rose from 511 million in 1995 to 704 million in 2000 and 713 million in 2006. Men’s voluntary hours have risen on each occasion while women’s total hours rose from 1995-2000 and then fell slightly in 2006.
Of the 713 million hours given in 2006, men contributed 346 million hours and women contributed 367 million hours.
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While more people are volunteering, the median hours of voluntary work have decreased across most age groups since 1995. The greatest decrease in median annual hours has been for those aged 35-44. Men’s median annual hours fell by almost half from 74 hours in 1995 to 38 hours in 2006. Over the same time in that age group, women’s median annual hours fell from 78 to 58 hours.
Men and women are volunteering for shorter periods of time with most volunteers contributing relatively few hours and some contributing a large number of hours. During 2006, less than 50 hours per year are contributed by 46% of volunteers while 8% contribute at least 400 hours per year.
The median hours of voluntary work have decreased across most age groups over the years 1995-2006. Even though the highest rate of volunteering has been among those aged 35-44 years, it is also the group with the greatest decrease in median hours. For this age group volunteer hours fell from a median of 76 hours in 1995 to 49 hours in 2006.
Using 2006 median weekly hours, older adults generally spend more time volunteering than younger adults with those aged over 65 giving 2 hours a week. People aged 55-64 had the next highest median hours of 1.5 hours per week. Younger people gave lower median weekly hours.
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Volunteer Origins
Volunteers in Australia are a diverse group and represent a cross section of the Australian population. In general, people born in Australia were slightly more likely to participate in voluntary work than people born outside Australia (36% compared to 29%). While this was the case across most age groups in 2006, the exception was for males aged 25-34 years. In this group, men born outside of Australia volunteered more than their counterparts born in Australia, 32% and 27% respectively.
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Overall across all age groups, women born in Australia had higher volunteering rate than women born elsewhere.
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Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) Volunteers
The rate of volunteering amongst people born outside Australia was 17% in 1995 and rose to 25% in 2000. In 2006, the CALD volunteering rate rose slightly to 26%. CALD volunteers participate within their own ethnic and the broader community and are most commonly involved with health, schools and sporting organisations.
Volunteering Organisations and Activities
The types of organisations people volunteer in were not identified prior to 2000. Volunteers contribute to a wide variety of organisations and perform many different activities. Most volunteering occurs in non-profit organisations (84%) and government sector organisations (14%).
Sport/recreation, education/training, community/welfare and religious groups were consistently the most common types of organisations for which people volunteered across all states and territories. Together, these account for 74% of all volunteering involvement.
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Median hours spent volunteering for religious organisations was equal to hours spent for sport and physical recreation, both 48 hours per year. These were higher than for all other types of organisations.
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Most volunteers served only one organisation (62%) but a small proportion (4%) contributed to more than three.
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Volunteers worked for organisations that were either fully staffed by volunteers or staffed by both volunteer and paid staff. Just over half of the organisations that volunteers worked for had a combination of paid and volunteer staff while 44% of organisations were fully staffed by volunteers.
Almost half of volunteering activity involved fundraising and sales (48%).
Preparing and serving food, teaching / instructing / providing information and performing administrative work were other important activities. Transporting people and/or goods accounted for 22% of volunteer activity.
Some volunteer activities fit traditional stereotypes. Women were more likely than men to be involved in food preparation and serving. Men were more likely to be involved in repairs, maintenance, gardening, coaching and refereeing. Men and women had similar rate of involvement across other activities.
Volunteering, Employment and Occupation
Volunteers were more likely to be in paid employment, either full-time or part-time than those who were unemployed or not in the labour force. While the volunteering rate was lower for people not in employment, they generally contributed more voluntary hours than people who were.
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In 2006, employed men volunteered an average 2.2 hours a week, unemployed men gave 3.4 hours and retired men gave 5.9 hours. Retired women similarly provided more voluntary work, 3.5 hours compared with 2.4 hours by women not in the labour force. Women who worked part-time gave 2.3 hours while those in full-time employment gave 2.1 hours and unemployed women 2.0 hours a week.
People generally volunteered in areas that related to their type of paid employment. Those employed in health and community services for example, were more likely to volunteer in these areas. There is a similar association for volunteers in other areas.
The volunteering rate varied between occupational groupings. Managers/administrators and professionals (46%) and advanced clerical and service workers (45%) showed the highest volunteering rate.
Volunteering and Household Income
Volunteering information relating to household income was collected for the first time in 2006. People with the highest 20% of gross weekly incomes volunteered at a higher rate (39%), compared with those from households with the lowest 20% of gross weekly incomes (25%). Women from higher income households volunteered at a slightly higher rate (41%) than men in comparable households (37%).
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Volunteering and Educational Qualifications
Information about educational qualification of volunteers was first collected in 2006. Volunteering rate shows a relationship between educational levels and occupational groups. People in occupations with higher educational qualifications showed higher volunteering rate than people in occupations with lower educational qualifications.
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An Overview of Volunteering across States and Territories
States and Territories displayed differing patterns of volunteering. Between 1995 and 2006, all States and Territories except South Australia had an increase in volunteering rate. Volunteering rate in South Australia rose from 27% in 1995 to 38% in 2000 and dropped to 32% in 2006.
In 2006, both the ACT and Queensland had the highest proportion of volunteers, each with 38%. Tasmania, Northern Territory and Western Australia were slightly less with 36% of their population volunteering.
The volunteering rate also differed across parts of states with people living outside capital cities more likely to volunteer. Capital cities overall had a volunteering rate of 16% in 1995, 28% in 2000 and 32% in 2006. The volunteering rate outside capital cities was 24% in 1995 and 38% in both 2000 and 2006.
Amongst men, in capital cities across Australia men aged 45-54 years had the highest volunteering rate at 41%. Beyond capital cities men aged 18-24 and 35-44 years had the highest volunteering rate at 42% each. Amongst women, those aged 35-44 years had the highest volunteering rate both in capital cities and beyond, 44% and 56% respectively.
The Economic Contribution of Volunteering
As well as the many social and welfare related benefits that volunteering provides to the community, its economic value has been estimated at around $42 billion per annum.