Table 6 shows the frequency with which people do volunteer work when they are 20-years-old and how this varies across various categories of young Australians. Several levels of frequency are recorded. For simplicity, the discussion focuses on whether or not a person does volunteer work at least once a month (the sum of the categories at least once a month and at least once a week in Table A6). Tables A4 and A5 in The Supplementary Tables present the corresponding results separately for young men and women. Notes to Tables provides some technical information about these and other tables.
- Young women (22.7%) are more likely than young men (17.5%) to have undertaken some form of volunteer work at least monthly in the previous year.
- Younger people from higher socioeconomic backgrounds (24.2%) are more likely to engage in volunteer work at least once a month than are young people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds (18.3%). The pattern is not as clear when the results for men and women are viewed separately (Tables A4 and A5). For young women, in particular, the highest category of socioeconomic background has the lowest frequency of at least monthly participation (17.7%).
- Young people from a non-English-speaking background are less likely than are others to participate in volunteer activities at least once a month. The differences, however, are not large. There is significant difference associated with the country of the birth of the respondent and there is no difference between those with both parents born in a non-English-speaking country (17.6%) and young people with both parents born in an English-speaking country other than Australia (17.0%). Again, however, young people from households in which English is rarely or never spoken have a relatively low frequency of at least monthly volunteer work (14.2%). This pattern is clearer for young men than for young women. For young women, the relationships of frequency of volunteer activity with both the country of birth of the respondent and the extent to which English is spoken at home are not statistically significant (p>0.05). Although the relationship with country of birth of parents is significant, the frequency of at least monthly volunteer work is high when both parents are from a non-English-speaking country (21.5%) than when both were born in an English-speaking country (20.6%) or when only one parent was born overseas (19%).
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth have a high frequency of at least monthly volunteer work (27.0%) compared with the rest of the community (20.0%). This relationship is stronger for young men (29.5% compared with 17.3%) than for young women (24.9% compared with 22.7%).
- The difference between the frequency of at least monthly participation in volunteer labour for young disabled people and others is not statistically significant (p>0.05). For young men, however, there is a statistically signifi-cant relationship (p<0.05) – disabled youth are more likely to undertake volunteer labour at least monthly.
- The differences among young people from urban, partly rural and rural areas in the frequency of at least monthly participation in volunteer labour are not statistically significant (p>0.05).
- There are no statistically significant differences in the frequency of at least monthly participation in volunteer work among young people who attended the different types of schools.
- Young people with higher levels of literacy and numeracy are more likely to participate in volunteer work at least monthly than are young people with lower levels of literacy and numeracy – but the differences are quite modest overall, non-existent for young women and only slightly stronger for young men.
- Year 12 graduates (21.0%) are more likely than others (17.3%) to participate in volunteer labour at least monthly.
- Overall, young people in a combination of part-time study and part-time work (24.1%) or part-time work (23.0%) or study only (23.3%) are more likely to participate in volunteer work at least monthly. Those in full-time work only (16.6%) or no work or study (19.0%) are least likely to participate in volunteer work at least once a month. The pattern is a little different, however, for men and women considered separately. Young men in part-time study only have among the lowest levels of engagement with volunteer work (10.9%) while for young women this category has the highest engagement with volunteer work (33.8%).
Table 6: Frequency of community volunteer work by selected personal characteristics: At age 20, 2000
| |
No volunt. work |
Ceased volunt. work |
Less than yearly |
At least once per year |
At least every 3 months |
At least once per month |
At least once per week |
Total % |
n |
| Total |
47.6 |
14.0 |
3.3 |
9.0 |
5.9 |
8.7 |
11.5 |
100.0 |
7,889 |
| Sex % |
0.00 |
| Male |
53.1 |
12.8 |
3.0 |
8.4 |
5.3 |
6.9 |
10.6 |
100.0 |
3,718 |
| Female |
42.3 |
15.2 |
3.7 |
9.6 |
6.4 |
10.4 |
12.3 |
100.0 |
4,171 |
| Socioeconomic status % |
0.00 |
| Top quintile |
40.3 |
14.8 |
4.2 |
10.5 |
6.0 |
10.5 |
13.7 |
100.0 |
1,823 |
| 60% to 80% |
45.3 |
14.8 |
3.7 |
9.4 |
7.5 |
8.1 |
11.3 |
100.0 |
1,753 |
| Middle quintile |
47.8 |
13.9 |
3.0 |
9.7 |
5.4 |
7.6 |
12.6 |
100.0 |
1,573 |
| 20% to 40% |
52.1 |
13.2 |
3.5 |
7.2 |
5.4 |
8.3 |
10.3 |
100.0 |
1,432 |
| Bottom quintile |
52.8 |
13.3 |
2.3 |
8.1 |
5.1 |
9.0 |
9.3 |
100.0 |
1,308 |
| Country of birth of resp. % |
0.17 |
| Australia |
47.1 |
14.3 |
3.2 |
9.0 |
6.0 |
8.9 |
11.5 |
100.0 |
7,096 |
| Other English-speaking |
47.1 |
12.9 |
2.6 |
9.1 |
7.1 |
8.4 |
12.8 |
100.0 |
267 |
| Non-English-speaking |
53.8 |
11.2 |
5.0 |
8.7 |
3.9 |
6.8 |
10.5 |
100.0 |
526 |
| Country of birth of parents % |
0.00 |
| Both non-English-speaking |
54.5 |
13.1 |
3.6 |
7.7 |
3.5 |
8.8 |
8.8 |
100.0 |
1,022 |
| Both overseas Eng-speaking |
51.5 |
12.1 |
2.5 |
9.8 |
7.2 |
7.5 |
9.5 |
100.0 |
370 |
| Other |
48.5 |
14.0 |
3.6 |
9.5 |
5.8 |
7.9 |
10.7 |
100.0 |
1,721 |
| Both born in Australia |
45.2 |
14.4 |
3.2 |
9.1 |
6.4 |
9.0 |
12.6 |
100.0 |
4,776 |
| English spoken at home % |
0.04 |
| Always or almost always |
46.7 |
14.3 |
3.4 |
9.1 |
6.1 |
8.7 |
11.7 |
100.0 |
7,345 |
| Sometimes |
56.5 |
11.0 |
2.8 |
8.4 |
3.7 |
9.6 |
7.9 |
100.0 |
441 |
| Rarely or never |
60.7 |
13.4 |
2.5 |
6.9 |
2.3 |
2.9 |
11.3 |
100.0 |
103 |
| Indigenous person % |
0.04 |
| Yes |
34.5 |
20.7 |
3.0 |
8.7 |
6.1 |
11.9 |
15.1 |
100.0 |
160 |
| No |
47.9 |
13.9 |
3.4 |
9.0 |
5.9 |
8.6 |
11.4 |
100.0 |
7,729 |
| Disability % |
0.18 |
| Yes |
39.4 |
15.5 |
4.9 |
11.0 |
6.8 |
8.5 |
13.9 |
100.0 |
604 |
| No |
48.3 |
13.9 |
3.2 |
8.8 |
5.8 |
8.7 |
11.3 |
100.0 |
7,285 |
| Location % |
0.15 |
| Urban |
49.0 |
15.0 |
3.6 |
8.2 |
4.8 |
8.6 |
10.8 |
100.0 |
3,907 |
| Partly rural |
46.7 |
13.0 |
3.1 |
9.8 |
6.8 |
8.5 |
12.1 |
100.0 |
3,370 |
| Rural |
42.6 |
13.6 |
3.0 |
10.3 |
7.8 |
10.8 |
11.9 |
100.0 |
612 |
| Type of school % |
0.50 |
| Government |
51.2 |
12.8 |
2.9 |
7.8 |
5.2 |
8.3 |
11.8 |
100.0 |
5,090 |
| Catholic |
40.6 |
17.2 |
4.4 |
11.0 |
7.3 |
9.9 |
9.5 |
100.0 |
1,542 |
| Independent |
38.7 |
15.6 |
4.1 |
12.8 |
7.3 |
8.8 |
12.6 |
100.0 |
1,257 |
| Literacy & numeracy % |
0.02 |
| Top 20% |
44.0 |
13.9 |
3.1 |
10.3 |
7.1 |
8.6 |
12.9 |
100.0 |
1,951 |
| 60% to 80% |
44.7 |
13.4 |
3.4 |
10.4 |
5.6 |
10.4 |
12.0 |
100.0 |
1,774 |
| Middle quintile |
45.6 |
15.1 |
3.5 |
9.6 |
7.0 |
8.7 |
10.5 |
100.0 |
1,657 |
| 20% to 40% |
49.9 |
14.0 |
4.3 |
7.1 |
5.3 |
6.9 |
12.5 |
100.0 |
1,411 |
| Lowest 20% |
53.8 |
13.6 |
2.4 |
7.5 |
4.5 |
8.9 |
9.4 |
100.0 |
1,096 |
| Self-concept % |
0.00 |
| Most positive 20% |
43.3 |
13.0 |
2.7 |
9.9 |
7.2 |
11.1 |
12.7 |
100.0 |
1,498 |
| 60% to 80% |
44.2 |
15.1 |
3.7 |
8.7 |
6.3 |
9.2 |
12.9 |
100.0 |
1,547 |
| Middle quintile |
48.2 |
13.9 |
3.2 |
8.6 |
6.7 |
7.5 |
11.8 |
100.0 |
1,669 |
| 20% to 40% |
50.4 |
14.4 |
3.7 |
9.4 |
4.3 |
7.6 |
10.3 |
100.0 |
1,561 |
| Least positive 20% |
51.5 |
13.7 |
3.4 |
8.5 |
4.9 |
8.2 |
9.7 |
100.0 |
1,614 |
| Year left school % |
0.00 |
| Year 12 |
45.3 |
14.2 |
3.5 |
9.8 |
6.3 |
9.2 |
11.8 |
100.0 |
6,499 |
| Year 11 |
55.9 |
12.4 |
3.2 |
6.4 |
5.8 |
6.8 |
9.5 |
100.0 |
856 |
| Year 9 or 10 |
58.2 |
14.8 |
2.5 |
4.9 |
2.2 |
6.8 |
10.6 |
100.0 |
534 |
| Current activity in 2000 % |
0.00 |
| Full-time work, no study |
53.5 |
14.1 |
3.7 |
7.1 |
5.0 |
7.7 |
8.9 |
100.0 |
1,616 |
| Full-time work & study |
49.9 |
14.8 |
2.8 |
8.5 |
4.7 |
9.1 |
10.2 |
100.0 |
1,518 |
| Full-time study, no work |
47.5 |
12.1 |
3.8 |
10.4 |
5.6 |
7.8 |
12.8 |
100.0 |
1,153 |
| Full-time study & pt work |
40.7 |
13.9 |
3.2 |
11.6 |
7.9 |
10.1 |
12.5 |
100.0 |
2,211 |
| Part-time work & pt study |
46.1 |
12.8 |
3.9 |
6.7 |
6.3 |
7.3 |
16.8 |
100.0 |
268 |
| Part-time work only |
43.4 |
13.2 |
3.4 |
10.5 |
6.5 |
9.6 |
13.4 |
100.0 |
486 |
| Part-time study only |
41.6 |
17.5 |
2.5 |
9.6 |
5.5 |
10.0 |
13.3 |
100.0 |
130 |
| No work, no study |
52.9 |
16.1 |
3.2 |
4.2 |
4.6 |
7.1 |
11.9 |
100.0 |
507 |
See
Notes to Tables