4172.0 - Arts and Culture in Australia: A Statistical Overview, 2009

ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 21/10/2009

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Contents >> Employment and Voluntary Work >> VOLUNTARY WORK SURVEY

VOLUNTARY WORK SURVEY

Some cultural industries rely heavily on the activities of volunteers to assist their paid workforce. The 2006 Voluntary Work Survey defined a volunteer as someone who willingly gave unpaid help in the form of time, services or skills, through a club, organisation or association. It found that about 34% of people in Australia aged 18 years and over undertook some sort of voluntary work in the 12 months before interview in 2006. Some 207,200 people (1% of the population) undertook voluntary work for heritage and arts organisations.

5.6 Persons undertaking voluntary work for heritage and arts organisations - 2006

	Number of volunteers	Per cent of the population
	'000	%

Males	76.1	1.0
Females	131.0	1.7
Persons	207.2	1.4

Source: Voluntary Work, Australia, 2006 (cat. no. 4441.0).

Some of the people undertaking voluntary work provided assistance to more than one heritage and arts organisation. Consequently, the total number of involvements in heritage and arts organisations (223,700) exceeded the total number of volunteers (207,200).

The most common types of volunteer involvements in heritage and arts was with organisations involved in Performing arts (46%) and Museums, antiques and collectibles (19%).