Volunteers
Worth More to Australia Than Mining
Research by Dr Lisel O'Dwyer of Adelaide University has found that
volunteering in Australia is now worth more than the mining industry and has valued
it to be more than $200 billion a year. And this is a very conservative
estimate based only on volunteer hours rated at $7.00 per hour.
“More than 6.4 million people volunteer their time in Australia,
which is double the number in 1995.
"Volunteers get a lot of satisfaction from
helping others, enhancing the quality of their life and their health. The
benefits to the recipients are obvious and there are also positive spin-offs
for governments and workplaces."
People aged
between 40-54 comprise the highest bracket of volunteers, with slightly more women (40 per cent) than men (37 per
cent) giving their time to voluntary work.
While
the economic value of volunteering to Australia is huge, Dr O'Dwyer says the
true value of volunteering goes far beyond a dollar figure.
“If a volunteer fire fighter saves the life of
a child, what is that worth?
If environmental degradation is slowed because of millions
of trees planted by volunteer conservationists, what is that worth?
And if an elderly person receives a hot meal five days a
week, what is that worth?
Employed people are more likely to
volunteer, as are couples with dependent
children aged five to 17 years.
The
number of hours donated by volunteers had risen 16 per cent since 2000, with 41
per cent of adult Australians volunteering 836 million hours with an average of 132 hours per year per
volunteer.
WOW!
