This report examines the incidence and frequency of participation in community volunteer work by young Australians. It shows:
- the overall level of participation in volunteer work;
- the incidence of participation in various types of volunteer work; and
- the differences in the incidence and frequency of volunteer work among young Australians from different backgrounds.
The results on volunteer work presented in this report are from interviews conducted in 2000 and 2001 with the first panel of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) – a nationally representative sample of young Australians – when panel members were aged about 20 and 21 years, respectively.
The paper begins with a brief discussion of the LSAY. It then presents estimates of the overall level of participation in volunteer work. There is a brief discussion of the approach that underlies the analyses together with a description of the characteristics of young people used in the analyses. The remainder of the report presents the analyses.