Media Clipping — Feb 24, 2000, The Chronicle Herald & Mail Star

Nova Scotians spend more of their time volunteering

By Davene Jeffrey, Staff Reporter

Nova Scotians have more heart.

A report released Wednesday shows that Bluenoses devote 43 per cent more of their time to helping others than the national average.

And that volunteer work is worth nearly $2 billion in services to the province's economy, says GPI Atlantic's director, Ronald Colman.

"Nova Scotia is an exception to the rule," Mr. Colman said.

'Across the country, (volunteer work) per capita is down 8.7 per cent from 1992. That's a big drop. Can you imagine what would happen if the GDP (gross domestic product) dropped by 8.7 per cent? There'd be a national emergency."

Mr. Colman's research group is constructing an index of sustainable development for Nova Scotia —the Genuine Progress Index.

He uses Statistics Canada data to calculate what it would cost to replace voluntary services for pay in the market economy.

The index is designed to provide policymakers with more accurate measures of progress than those currently based on the GDP

Volunteer work is one of 20 social, economic and environmental components in the GPI.

"Volunteers make such a huge contribution to the standard of living and quality of life and if volunteers disappeared, the quality of life would drop dramatically and the standard of living would go down," he said.

. The amount of formal volunteer work Nova Scotians do for charities and community organisations, however, is decreasing, the report states.

But informal volunteering — helping elderly and disabled families, friends and neighbours—is on the upswing, Mr. Colman said.

GPI's figures show that formal work is down seven per cent, while informal work has increased 10 per cent.

Colman speculates recent sharp moves from institutionalised health care to home and community care may explain the dramatic growth of informal volunteer work.

And the national drop in volunteer work is because Canadians are busier.

A Statistics Canada survey shows that timestress levels are rising across the country.

"What happens is volunteer work is getting squeezed out because people are more time stressed."

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