What is missing from the picture?
The economic value of volunteering in Australia has been calculated for several Australian states,
but not for the nation as a whole. The most recent state-level study was The economic value of
volunteering in Victoria (Victorian Department of Planning and Community Development 2012).
Information on demand for volunteers is difficult to measure, partly because there is no clear
delineation between the demand for paid and unpaid workers.
Where do I go for more information?
Most of the information presented in this snapshot is sourced from the ABS 2010 General Social
Survey. The ABS has published much more information on volunteers collected in this survey in
Voluntary work 2010 (ABS 2011).
The ABS 2011 Census collected information about voluntary work; however, the type of activity was
not recorded, though the breadth of other types of information included in the Census provides
the potential to investigate the characteristics of volunteers in ways not available from the ABS 2010
General Social Survey.
References
ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) 2011. Voluntary work, Australia 2010. ABS cat. no. 4441.0.
Canberra: ABS.
DSS (Department of Social Services) 2014. National review of community transport under the
Commonwealth HACC program: final report. Canberra: DSS.
PM&C (Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet) 2011. National Volunteering Strategy.
Canberra: PM&C.
Victorian Health Promotion Foundation 2012. Volunteering: indicator overview. Melbourne: Victorian
Health Promotion Foundation.
Victorian Department of Planning and Community Development 2012. The economic value of
volunteering in Victoria. Melbourne: Victorian Department of Planning and Community Development