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GENERAL SOCIAL SURVEY 2002 - VOLUNTEERS

Both the 2000 Voluntary Work Survey (VWS) and the 2002 General Social Survey (GSS) sought information regarding the number of people providing services voluntarily, and the types of organisation for which they volunteered. For both surveys, one of the organisation categories was Sport, recreation and hobby. This category included not only sports and physical recreation organisations, but also organisations concerned with non-physical recreation and hobbies. For the 2000 VWS, it was possible to analyse the data in order to disaggregate the Sport, recreation and hobby category and remove the non-physical recreation and hobby component. However, for the 2002 GSS, such analysis was not possible.

The analysis of Sport, recreation and hobby data from the 2000 VWS indicated that 24% of the 1,498,900 volunteers for organisations in that category were actually volunteers for non-physical recreation organisations or hobby organisations. This left 1,140,700 or 76% who were volunteers for sports or physical recreation organisations. This provides a rough guide to the percentage of volunteers for Sport, recreation and hobby organisations who are actually volunteers for sports and physical recreation organisations in the data from the 2002 GSS. However, there are two points which should be noted. One is that the percentage applies to total volunteers - it may vary if the data are disaggregated by volunteer characteristics. The other is that the percentage may vary because of methodological differences between the surveys. As a result, the figure of 76% should be used with caution, and as a rough guide only.

The 2002 GSS found that over a third ( 5.0 million persons) of Australians aged 18 years and over undertook some form of voluntary work for an organisation in the 12 months prior to interview in 2002. Sport, recreation and hobby organisations had the largest number of volunteers, receiving help from 1.8 million persons. These persons comprised 12.1% of the total adult population. Welfare and community organisations had the second largest number of volunteers with 1.6 million; while Education, training and youth development and Religious were the only other organisation types to have over one million volunteers.

Overall, the proportion of the population who volunteered was slightly higher for females than males - 35.1% of females undertook voluntary work compared with 33.7% of males. However, for Sports, recreation and hobby organisations, the volunteer rate was higher for males. Voluntary work was undertaken by 15.1% of males compared with 9.2% of females.

7.12 VOLUNTEERS, By type of organisation assisted and sex - 2002
	NUMBER			VOLUNTEER RATE
	Males	Females	Persons	Males	Females	Persons
Type of organisation assisted	'000	'000	'000	%	%	%
Sport, recreation and hobby	1 084.3	672.4	1 756.7	15.1	9.2	12.1
Welfare and community	717.1	910.6	1 627.7	10.0	12.4	11.2
Health	111.3	223.4	334.7	1.6	3.0	2.3
Emergency services	188.2	72.3	260.4	2.6	1.0	1.8
Education, training and youth development	436.8	718.8	1 155.5	6.1	9.8	8.0
Religious	480.2	634.2	1 114.4	6.7	8.7	7.7
Environmental and animal welfare	138.6	159.0	297.6	1.9	2.2	2.1
Business, professional and union	195.3	108.7	304.0	2.7	1.5	2.1
Law, justice and political	104.3	53.4	157.7	1.5	0.7	1.1
Arts and culture	156.2	178.1	334.3	2.2	2.4	2.3
Foreign and international	68.0	47.0	115.0	0.9	0.6	0.8
Other organisation	109.5	108.6	218.1	1.5	1.5	1.5
Total(a)	2 415.3	2 573.7	4 989.0	33.7	35.1	34.4
(a) Components do not add to the total as some persons undertook voluntary work for more than one organisation.
Source: ABS data available on request, General Social Survey, 2002.

In table 7.13 and the text following, persons volunteering for Sport, recreation and hobby organisations are referred to as sport volunteers, while persons not volunteering for Sport, recreation and hobby organisations, but volunteering for organisations in other organisation categories, are referred to as other volunteers.

In the three youngest age groups (up to 34 years), the proportion of persons who were sport volunteers was around 11%. Thereafter, the sport volunteer rate increased sharply, peaking at 18.9% for persons aged 40-44 years. After the age of 50 years there was a marked decline in this rate, down to its lowest point of 4.7% for persons aged 70 years and over. For other volunteers, the volunteer rate was - as for sport - lower for young people than it was for the middle-aged. The other volunteer rate generally increased with the age group, peaking at 28.4% for persons aged 55-59 years. Unlike the sport volunteer rate, the other volunteer rate did not decline markedly with advancing age and, even for persons aged 70 years and over, was still well over 20%.

7.13 VOLUNTEERS, By type and age group - 2002
	NUMBER				PER CENT
	Sport volunteers (a)	Other volunteers (b)	Non-volunteers	Total	Sport volunteers (a)	Other volunteers (b)	Non-volunteers	Total
Age group (years)	'000	'000	'000	'000	%	%	%	%
18-24	212.8	322.2	1 369.9	1 904.9	11.2	16.9	71.9	100.0
25-29	148.9	234.4	1 039.2	1 422.5	10.5	16.5	73.1	100.0
30-34	168.2	284.9	1 031.6	1 484.7	11.3	19.2	69.5	100.0
35-39	235.2	354.0	858.9	1 448.1	16.2	24.4	59.3	100.0
40-44	280.5	361.8	842.4	1 484.7	18.9	24.4	56.7	100.0
45-49	235.7	353.4	785.9	1 375.0	17.1	25.7	57.2	100.0
50-54	163.7	283.8	822.1	1 269.6	12.9	22.4	64.8	100.0
55-59	100.8	303.0	662.1	1 065.8	9.5	28.4	62.1	100.0
60-64	87.7	224.0	506.6	818.3	10.7	27.4	61.9	100.0
65-69	51.0	176.6	452.1	679.6	7.5	26.0	66.5	100.0
70 and over	72.1	334.2	1 143.7	1 550.0	4.7	21.6	73.8	100.0
Total	1 756.7	3 232.3	9 514.3	14 503.3	12.1	22.3	65.6	100.0
(a) Persons who volunteered for Sport, recreation and hobby organisations.
(b) Persons who did not volunteer for Sport, recreation and hobby organisations, but who volunteered for organisations in other organisation categories.
Source: ABS data available on request, General Social Survey, 2002.

The sport volunteer rate for employed persons was 15.4%, more than double the rates for unemployed persons (6.5%) and persons not in the labour force (6.3%). However, for other volunteers, there was little difference in the volunteer rates for the employed (22.1%), unemployed (21.7%) and persons not in the labour force (22.7%).

With a sport volunteer rate of 17.8%, persons in couple families with dependent children (children under 15 years and/or dependent students 15 years and over) were more likely to be sport volunteers than were persons in any other type of family. This may be due partly to the sporting activities of dependent children having an influence on the sport volunteering of the adult members of their families. Couple families with dependent children contributed 49.6% of all sport volunteers, despite accounting for only 33.9% of the adult population.

Persons participating in organised sporting activities during the 12-month reference period had a sport volunteer rate of 25.6%, much higher than for persons participating only in non-organised sporting activities (5.5%) or not participating at all (5.7%). Over two-thirds (68.8%) of all sport volunteers had participated in organised sporting activities.

Persons who attended at least one sporting event during the 12-month reference period were more likely to be sport volunteers than those who did not attend any. The sport volunteer rate for attendees was 19.3%, compared with only 5.4% for non-attendees. Persons who attended at least one culture or leisure venue or event were also more likely to be sport volunteers than those who did not. Attendees had a sport volunteer rate of 13.2%, but for non-attendees it was only 4.2%.