Labour-Market Responses to Volunteering: Regional Differences - June 2000

3. Regional Variations in the Characteristics of Volunteers

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To date, very little work has been done on regional differences in volunteering in Canada. The Statistics Canada "Nonprofit Sector Knowledge Base Project" is resulting in a number of research projects on various topics, including regional variations in volunteering. Reed and Selbee (1999) author one report which examines the profiles of so-called active volunteers - i.e., those who volunteer at least 66 hours annually - and find that volunteering does appear to vary on a regional basis. Indeed, one of the interesting findings of that paper is that the characteristics of active volunteers differ quite dramatically across regions: "... there is no single distinctive pattern of traits in the active volunteer; rather, volunteers are distinctive in different ways and to different degrees in different regions of the country and in different kinds of communities." (Reed and Selbee, 1999, p.9). A couple of papers have analysed regional variations in charitable donations (Kitchen and Dalton, 1990; Jones, 1999) and have reached the same conclusion, namely that variations do appear to exist and be significant. But overall, the work in this particular area is very sparse.

Before turning to the econometric analysis, it is instructive to look at the pattern of regional variation that exists in our particular sub-sample of employed individuals from the SGVP. Table 1 presents the average characteristics of volunteers and non-volunteers for each region and for Canada as a whole. (Table 2 reports the definitions for the mnemonics used). The first point to note is that volunteers typically have higher incomes, on average, than do non-volunteers - the only exception is the Atlantic region where the two groups have the same average income (in logarithms). There also appears to be a good deal of variation in this figure (keep in mind that we are reporting income in logarithms, thus small differences in this number result from large differences in the actual level of income) - ranging from 10.16 ($25 848) for volunteers in British Columbia to 9.90 ($19 930) for volunteers (and non-volunteers) in the Atlantic region. Interestingly, although volunteers have higher incomes, they tend to work fewer hours relative to non-volunteers - a pattern that persists across all five regions.

Except for in Quebec, relatively more females volunteer than males, ranging from 56 per cent in British Columbia and the Atlantic region to 47 per cent in Quebec. The non-volunteers are comprised mostly of men, except in the Atlantic region where only 49 per cent of non-volunteers are male. Most volunteers and non-volunteers are married; however, relatively more volunteers are married in comparison to the non-volunteer group. Another interesting point to note is that, on average, volunteers have more children relative to non-volunteers, and these children tend to be aged six to twelve years.

Table 1
Average characteristics of volunteers and non-volunteers by region
Sample of employed individuals (9,945 observations)

Variables	Canada		BC		Prairies		Ontario		Quebec		Atlantic
	Volun- teers	Non Volun- teers	Volun- teers	Non Volun- teers	Volun- teers	Non Volun- teers	Volun- teers	Non Volun- teers	Volun- teers	Non Volun- teers	Volun- teers	Non Volun- teers
LNINCOME	10.05	10.00	10.16	10.06	10.00	9.92	10.13	10.10	10.07	10.00	9.90	9.90
MALE	0.47	0.54	0.44	0.54	0.47	0.56	0.46	0.57	0.53	0.52	0.44	0.49
MARRIED	0.66	0.61	0.65	0.60	0.66	0.55	0.66	0.62	0.62	0.60	0.68	0.66
HOURS	35.88	37.75	34.38	36.08	36.66	38.77	35.57	38.17	35.55	36.21	36.16	38.73
HIGH	0.27	0.38	0.25	0.38	0.32	0.45	0.26	0.39	0.24	0.32	0.24	0.36
DIPLOMA	0.33	0.33	0.35	0.32	0.31	0.30	0.34	0.31	0.35	0.36	0.35	0.37
POSTSEC	0.13	0.11	0.17	0.14	0.14	0.10	0.13	0.12	0.12	0.09	0.13	0.09
UNIV	0.24	0.13	0.22	0.13	0.22	0.10	0.25	0.13	0.25	0.15	0.25	0.10
HHSIZE	2.99	2.69	2.85	2.64	2.97	2.67	3.06	2.81	2.85	2.53	3.07	2.74
OWNK05	0.24	0.27	0.23	0.23	0.26	0.28	0.25	0.29	0.23	0.25	0.22	0.28
OWNK0612	0.45	0.24	0.41	0.17	0.45	0.22	0.47	0.26	0.39	0.24	0.46	0.26
OWNK1317	0.21	0.13	0.22	0.10	0.22	0.13	0.21	0.12	0.20	0.14	0.23	0.15
OWNK18PL	0.12	0.10	0.10	0.09	0.09	0.08	0.13	0.11	0.15	0.10	0.14	0.11
EXP	19.18	19.38	19.31	20.65	19.13	18.83	19.49	18.95	19.15	19.89	18.72	19.50
RURAL	0.38	0.33	0.26	0.25	0.46	0.40	0.25	0.20	0.35	0.33	0.55	0.57
TOWN	0.14	0.14	0.22	0.18	0.07	0.06	0.16	0.16	0.18	0.17	0.15	0.16
CITY	0.48	0.53	0.52	0.57	0.47	0.54	0.59	0.64	0.47	0.50	0.30	0.27
Weighted participation rate	35%	65%	36%	64%	45%	55%	35%	65%	30%	70%	41%	59%

Table 2 Variable names and definitions

Mnemonic	Description
INCOME	The reported income of individual
MALE	Dummy variable, 1 if male, 0 otherwise
MARRIED	Dummy variable, 1 if married, 0 otherwise
GRADESCH	No school, or elementary school only: reference group
HIGHSCH	Dummy variable, 1 if high school (some or completed), 0 otherwise
POSTSEC	Dummy variable, 1 if some post-secondary education, 0 otherwise
DIPLOMA	Dummy variable, 1 if post-secondary diploma, 0 otherwise
UNIV	Dummy variable, 1 if university degree, 0 otherwise
HHSIZE	Number of individuals residing in the household
OWNK05	Number of own children ages 0-5 years old
OWNK0612	Number of own children ages 6-12 years old
OWNK1317	Number of own children ages 13-17 years old
OWNK18PL	Number of children ages 18 years old or older living at home
FRENCH	Dummy variable, 1 if language spoken in interview is French, reference group
ENG	English spoken in interview
EXP	Experience*
EXP2	Experience squared
RURAL	Dummy variable, 1 if lives in area with a population of less than 15,000, 0 otherwise
TOWN	Dummy variable, 1 if lives in area with a population of 15,000-99,999, 0 otherwise
CITY	Population greater than 100,000: reference group
HOURS	Total usual weekly hours worked
NEWLAND	Dummy variable, 1 if landed immigrant within 3 years at time of survey
MEDLAND	Dummy variable, 1 if landed immigrant within 4 to 8 years at time of survey
OLDLAND	Dummy variable, 1 if landed immigrant over 8 years at time of survey
NEWRES	Dummy variable, 1 if lived in current residence less than 1 year, reference group
MEDRES	Dummy variable, 1 if lived in current residence 1 to 5 years
OLDRES	Dummy variable, 1 if lived in current residence more than 5 years
VOL	Dummy variable, 1 if individual volunteered in current year, 0 otherwise
GIVE	Dummy variable, 1 if individual gave at least one dollar to a registered charity, 0therwise
GOVT	Per capital provincial and local government spending by province, excluding debt and transfer payments
Note: The occupation variables (Science through Other) are dummy variables which take the value 1 if the individual worked in the given occupation and zero otherwise. We had data on 22 occupations which were grouped into 17 occupational categories (service occupations are the reference group). For the sake of brevity, we omit a detailed account of these groupings. * We used the usual definition of experience (age - years of schooling - 6), where years of schooling were imputed for each level.

Volunteers are more highly educated in comparison to non-volunteers; indeed, about one-quarter of all volunteers have a university education in comparison to 13 per cent of non-volunteers. The regional variation in educational levels diminishing as the level of education increases: for instance, 24 per cent of volunteers in Quebec and the Atlantic regions have high school education while this figure is 32 per cent in the Prairies. The range is much tighter - 22 per cent to 25 per cent - for volunteers with university education.

There is a significant degree of regional variation in the population density of the areas in which respondents lived. In Ontario, 59 per cent of volunteers live in a CITY (defined as an urban centre with a population greater than 100,000) while 64 per cent of non-volunteers live in a CITY; in the Atlantic region only 30 per cent of volunteers and 27 per cent of non-volunteers live in a centre with a population great than 100,000. Naturally, this sort of variation reflects the population density of the different regions.

Finally, it is useful to note the participation rates reported in the last row of Table 1. These rates are calculated using sample weights so as to reflect accurately the proportion of the population that is volunteering. Just over one-third of employed Canadians volunteer. The participation rates in British Columbia and Ontario mirror the Canadian average. By contrast, more people in the Prairies and Atlantic Canada volunteer compared to the average Canadian, while fewer people in Quebec participate in voluntary activities. We return to these figures in our discussion of regional differences in earnings due to volunteering.

Table 3 indicates the percentage of volunteers in each region that volunteer for twelve different categories of organizations.³ In all regions, most individuals volunteer for cultural groups (including recreation), followed by social service organizations. The pattern in Quebec is different than elsewhere: the difference between participation in cultural and social service organizations is much smaller in that province compared to the other regions, and the third organization, in terms of participation rate, is health groups in Quebec whereas for all other regions it is religious groups. In fact, there is an enormous difference in the participation rate of volunteers for religious groups in Quebec relative to the other regions. Overall, the pattern of volunteering is remarkably similar across the four regions.

Four points are useful to keep in mind. First, a good deal of variation is displayed in the characteristics of volunteers across the five regions in Canada; second, remarkable similarities exists in the relative differences between volunteers and non-volunteers within each of the regions; third, some interesting regional variation occurs in volunteer participation rates; lastly, the pattern of volunteering for different organizations is quite similar in all regions except Quebec. While raw data are useful for establishing patterns, they cannot help identify which factors affect, for instance, the decision to volunteer and by how much. We now turn to the econometric analysis of both the decision to volunteer and the earnings of volunteers and non-volunteers, on a regional basis.

Table 3
Volunteer Activities by Area: SGVP Data Set (Weighted by Sample Weights)

Type of organisation	BC		Prairies		Ontario		Quebec		Atlantic
	Participation rate	Average hours	Participation rate	Average hours	Participation rate	Average hours	Participation rate	Average hours	Participation rate	Average hours
CULTURAL	41%	48	45%	61	47%	51	41%	50	30%	32
EDUCAT	7%	7	7%	7	7%	6	6%	6	11%	10
HEALTH	18%	15	15%	10	17%	10	19%	15	18%	25
SOC.SER.	29%	31	29%	31	27%	23	28%	27	34%	45
ENVIRON	4%	3	5%	5	5%	3	4%	3	3%	2
DEVELOP	7%	7	7%	7	8%	7	5%	5	12%	13
LAW	5%	4	5%	5	4%	3	5%	6	5%	4
PHILANTH	4%	2	2%	1	3%	1	5%	3	3%	0
INTERNAT	1%	1	1%	2	1%	1	1%	1	2%	2
RELIG	21%	27	21%	33	26%	30	23%	29	10%	12
UNIONS	2%	1	2%	2	2%	2	2%	1	1%	1
OTHER	1%	1	0%	0	1%	1	1%	1	2%	2
# observations	10935		974		2872		3300		1558

• ³Note that individuals may volunteer for more than one type of organization, hence the columns do not sum to 100.

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