PRESS RELEASE

Nova Scotia Voluntary Services Decline 7.2%; Loss Worth $60m

According to a new study, Canada's sick, elderly, disabled, children, and other vulnerable groups are receiving 4.7% less services from volunteer groups than they did in 1987. This loss is worth $1.83 billion a year. In Nova Scotia, which enjoys a higher level of volunteer activity than the national average, the decline has been 7.2%, costing the province $60million a year in lost services.

The figures are the first evidence that the volunteer sector has been unable to compensate for government budget cuts in public services. In 1996,announcing major cuts in government health and social expenditures, Finance minister Paul Martin said: "There is no question that governments have to rely on volunteerism more than ever in a time of cut-backs, and that makes it absolutely essential that we do all we can to recognize the importance of volunteers."

In fact, the loss of voluntary services has compounded the effect of government cut-backs to produce a "substantial erosion of the social safety net for those most at risk," according to the report by GPI Atlantic, anon-profit research group that is building an index of sustainable development for Nova Scotia. When combined with a 17.5% cut in government social services and a 5% decline in income supports since 1993, the total loss of services and supports to vulnerable groups in Nova Scotia is estimated at 30%, even excluding health care cuts.

The GPI report is based on a recent Statistics Canada survey that shows a substantial increase in the number of people volunteering across Canada, but a dramatic drop in the average hours given per volunteer, yielding a net less. While the number of volunteers in Nova Scotia has increased by 73,000since 1987, the average volunteer is putting in 25% less hours than 10 years ago. If volunteers were providing services at the same rate as in 1987, Nova Scotians would be receiving 4.3 million additional hours a year of help. To replace this work in the market economy would cost $60 million, the study shows.

"This loss is not counted in the GDP or in any of our measures of progress,even though it directly affects our quality of life and standard of living,"says Ronald Colman, director of GPI Atlantic and author of the new report."Volunteer work is a tremendous asset to our society and economy, but is invisible in our conventional economic accounts because it is unpaid." An earlier report by GPI Atlantic, released in July last year, showed that Nova Scotia has the highest rate of voluntary work in the country, providing services worth nearly $2 billion a year to the economy.

Colman attributes the decline in volunteer hours to trends in the market economy. "73% of Nova Scotia university graduates do some work for volunteer organizations, the highest rate in the country. But these same people are also putting in more hours of overtime and working longer at their paid jobs as firms downsize and expect more of their highly educated staff." The GPI report also notes that married women have high rates of volunteering, but are the most time-stressed group in the population, according to Statistics Canada surveys, as they juggle family and work responsibilities. "With these growing time pressures, voluntary work is getting squeezed out," says Colman.

The GPI report also notes that the only significant increase in volunteers since 1987 has been among youth, aged 15 to 24, who have nearly doubled their rate of volunteering. But while older volunteers overwhelmingly say their primary motivation is "helping others," most young people say they are volunteering "to increase employment opportunities," a response to persistently high youth unemployment rates during this period.

"Because the voluntary sector is invisible in our national accounts, we've never before been able to test the assumption that volunteers can absorb government service cuts," says Colman. "By regularly measuring voluntary work and thus recognizing its economic and social value, the Genuine progress Index can track these trends and also help raise the profile of the voluntary sector so that it gets the policy attention it deserves."

Fewer volunteer hours mean that public programs are becoming less cost-effective, says Colman. "If we want to maintain the vital services that volunteers provide, we'll need to ensure adequate supports for volunteer organizations." Colman points out that the new survey only counts "formal"volunteer hours offered through community organizations, whereas the Maritimes have particularly high rates of informal voluntary work, on which statistics Canada will release data later this year. At that time it will be possible to assess trends in total voluntary work.

The GPI report was released today at a conference of more than 75 volunteer organizations and community-based agencies from throughout Nova Scotia. The groups gathered for a full-day conference on "Volunteers and Community Agencies in Crisis", held at the Captain William Spry Community Centre in Spryfield.