GENERAL SOCIAL SURVEY 2006 - VOLUNTEERS
Both the 2002 and 2006 General Social Survey (GSS) included a module of questions to provide information regarding the number of people providing services voluntarily and the type of organisation for which they volunteered. For the 2002 GSS, 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. This category changed in the 2006 GSS to only include sports and physical recreation organisations, while a new category of Other recreation and interest groups was created for hobby and general interest groups.
The 2006 GSS found that nearly a third (5.2 million persons) of Australians aged 18 years and over undertook some form of voluntary work for an organisation in the previous 12 months. Sports and physical recreation organisations had the largest number of volunteers, receiving help from 1.7 million persons. These persons comprised 11.2% of the total adult population. Education and training organisations had the second largest number of volunteers with 1.4 million, while Welfare and community 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 - 36.4% of females undertook voluntary work compared with 31.8% of males. However, for Sports and physical recreation organisations, the volunteer rate was higher for males. Voluntary work in Sports and physical recreation was undertaken by 13.8% of males compared with 8.7% of females.
7.12 VOLUNTEERS, By type of organisation assisted and sex - 2006 |
|  |
| NUMBER | VOLUNTEER | |
| Males | Females | Persons | Males | Females | Persons | |
| Type of organisation assisted | 000 | 000 | 000 | % | % | % | |
| |
| Sport and physical recreation | 1 039.9 | 672.9 | 1 712.8 | 13.8 | 8.7 | 11.2 | |
| Community and welfare | 423.1 | 700.0 | 1 123.1 | 5.6 | 9.0 | 7.3 | |
| Health | 171.0 | 305.1 | 476.1 | 2.3 | 3.9 | 3.1 | |
| Emergency services | 120.4 | 54.6 | 175.0 | 1.6 | 0.7 | 1.1 | |
| Education and training | 451.2 | 934.5 | 1 385.7 | 6.0 | 12.1 | 9.1 | |
| Religious | 423.4 | 599.5 | 1 022.9 | 5.6 | 7.7 | 6.7 | |
| Environment and animal welfare | 70.5 | 104.7 | 175.2 | 0.9 | 1.4 | 1.1 | |
| Parenting, children and youth | 133.5 | 175.0 | 308.5 | 1.8 | 2.3 | 2.0 | |
| Other recreation and interest | 122.0 | 127.2 | 249.2 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 1.6 | |
| Business, professional and union | *57.5 | 53.3 | 110.8 | *0.8 | 0.7 | 0.7 | |
| Law, justice and politcal | 36.4 | 32.3 | 68.7 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.4 | |
| Arts and heritage | 76.1 | 131.0 | 207.2 | 1.0 | 1.7 | 1.4 | |
| International aid and development | 51.3 | 57.6 | 108.9 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.7 | |
| Other organisation | **1.7 | **1.0 | **2.7 | - | - | - | |
| Total(a) | 2 405.2 | 2 821.3 | 5 226.5 | 31.8 | 36.4 | 34.1 | |
| |
| * estimate has a relative standard error of 25% to 50% and should be used with caution |
| ** estimate has a relative standard error greater than 50% and is considered too unreliable for general use |
| - nil or rounded to zero (including null cells) |
| (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, 2006. |
In table 7.13 and the text following, persons volunteering for Sports and physical recreation organisations are referred to as 'sport volunteers', while persons not volunteering for Sports and physical recreation organisations, but volunteering for organisations in other organisation categories, are referred to as 'other volunteers'.
In the 18-24 years age group, the proportion of persons who were sport volunteers was 12.3%, followed by lower levels of 7.5% and 8.9% for 25-29 and 30-34 years age groups respectively. The sport volunteer rate increased with age, peaking at 16.3% for persons aged 40-49 years. After the age of 50 years there was a marked decline in this rate, down to its lowest point of 2.9% for persons aged 60-64 years. For other volunteers, the volunteer rate was similar for young people and the middle-aged. The rate for other volunteers generally remained at a similar level for those in older age groups, peaking at 11.5% for persons aged 35-39 years. Unlike the sport volunteer rate, the other volunteer rate did not decline markedly with age and, even for persons aged 70 years and over, was over 10.0%.
7.13 VOLUNTEERS, By type and age group - 2006 |
| |
| NUMBER | PER CENT | |
| Sport Volunteers(a) | Other volunteers | Non-volunteer | Total | Sport Volunteers(a) | Other volunteers | Non-volunteers | Total | |
| Age Group (years) | 000 | 000 | 000 | 000 | % | % | % | % | |
| |
| 18-24 | 210.3 | 364.0 | 1 365.8 | 1 940.1 | 12.3 | 10.4 | 13.5 | 12.7 | |
| 25-29 | 128.0 | 257.2 | 973.5 | 1 358.7 | 7.5 | 7.3 | 9.7 | 8.9 | |
| 30-34 | 152.6 | 321.1 | 976.9 | 1 450.6 | 8.9 | 9.1 | 9.7 | 9.5 | |
| 35-39 | 230.6 | 403.5 | 854.3 | 1 488.4 | 13.5 | 11.5 | 8.5 | 9.7 | |
| 40-44 | 279.8 | 361.2 | 858.8 | 1 499.8 | 16.3 | 10.3 | 8.5 | 9.8 | |
| 45-49 | 278.5 | 327.6 | 861.8 | 1 467.9 | 16.3 | 9.3 | 8.5 | 9.6 | |
| 50-54 | 145.7 | 349.8 | 836.8 | 1 332.3 | 8.5 | 10.0 | 8.3 | 8.7 | |
| 55-59 | 120.7 | 304.6 | 841.2 | 1 266.5 | 7.0 | 8.7 | 8.3 | 8.3 | |
| 60-64 | 49.0 | 252.1 | 671.7 | 972.8 | 2.9 | 7.2 | 6.7 | 6.4 | |
| 65-69 | 54.6 | 214.3 | 508.5 | 777.4 | 3.2 | 6.1 | 5.0 | 5.1 | |
| 70 and over | 63.0 | 358.4 | 1 331.1 | 1 752.5 | 3.7 | 10.2 | 13.2 | 11.4 | |
| Total | 1 712.8 | 3 513.7 | 10 080.6 | 15 307.1 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | |
| |
| (a) May include Sport and another non Sports and physical recreation organisations. |
| Source: ABS data available on request, General Social Survey, 2006. |
The sport volunteer rate for employed persons was 14.1%, more than double the rates for unemployed persons (5.7%) and persons not in the labour force (5.6%).
With a sport volunteer rate of 18.4%, persons in couple families with dependent children (children under 15 years and/or dependent students 15-24 years) 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 49.0% of all sport volunteers, despite accounting for only 29.9% of the adult population.
Persons participating in sporting activities during the 12-month reference period had a sport volunteer rate of 15.9% which was noticeably higher than for persons who did not participate in sporting activities (3.5%). The majority (88.3%) of all sport volunteers also participated in 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 17.4%, compared with only 4.4% 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 at these type of venues had a sport volunteer rate of 12.1%, but for non-attendees it was only 4.2%.
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