Question from a reader:
Greetings, I was just re-reading your blog on volunteering. Four of the highest volunteering communities are in regional WA (Lake Grace, Dowerin, Kulin and Jerramungup).
It struck me that these communities also have considerably lower than average unemployment (three of them are under 2.5% vs WA 7.8% or Wheatbelt Central 6.2%).
Is that a coincidence? Or are these statistics linked? Do you have or know anything about that? I am just preparing a presentation on local economic development and would love to know if you have anything to hand.
Glenn's answer:
Generally, we find regional areas have the highest volunteering rates, and the more rural-based (small towns), the higher the volunteering rate overall. I haven’t done a correlation with unemployment, but I would expect there to be one like you’ve suggested.
However, I don’t think it’s a direct correlation. Volunteering peaks among people in their 50s and 60s, so where communities lose young people, there will be proportionally more in these age groups. Also, these close-knit communities have more ties to community organisations and so recognise what they do as volunteering more easily on the Census form.
For the same reason (young people moving out), the unemployment rates are often low, simply because those who would be looking for work are leaving if they can’t find it. So I think it’s more of a correlation, rather than direct causation, but I’d expect to see that effect.