Inflation, jobs, housing starts, oil prices, the stock market—these are the kinds of topics that grab economic headlines. But there is a foundational asset that is often overlooked—volunteer activity. What’s more, we tend to distinguish between paid work (employment) and volunteering, but they are both of vital importance to the economy and our quality of life.

In recognition of National Volunteer Week and the International Year of Volunteers for Sustainable Development, today’s Twenty-Four highlights the economic impact of volunteering in Canada and Alberta, in partnership with ATB’s Sustainability & Impact team. 

The value of volunteer labour

In 2023 alone (the most recent Statistics Canada data on the topic), the total number of hours of formal and informal* volunteering by Canadians was 4.1 billion. In Alberta, it was 485 million hours. That’s equivalent to about two million full-time jobs** in Canada (233,000 in Alberta). This represents a huge contribution of time and effort to improve lives and communities.

Though dated (see the opening paragraph about volunteer activity often being overlooked), a Conference Board of Canada study found that the dollar value of formal volunteering was $55.9 billion in 2017 or about 2.6% of GDP.

In addition to the many highly-dedicated paid workers in the non-profit sector, think of all the soccer games, fundraisers, worship activities, social services and so on that simply wouldn’t happen without the support of volunteers.

*Formal volunteering is unpaid activity done on behalf of a group or an organization. Informal volunteering is unpaid activity done directly for others on your own.

**40 hours per week, 52 weeks per year

The growing participation gap

A deeper look into the non-profit sector reveals a growing challenge: the annual volunteer rate (the percentage of the population age 15 and over that volunteers at some point during a 12-month period) and the total number of hours spent volunteering were both lower in 2023 than in the previous survey results from 2018. The overall volunteer rate in Canada dropped from 79.4 in 2018 to 72.8 in 2023. In Alberta, the rate went from 82.7 to 77.0.

Time spent volunteering nationally was 894 million hours lower in 2023 than in 2018 for a drop of 17.8%, and it was a similar story in Alberta with the number of hours down by 16.1%.

The reasons put forward for the decline include continued fallout from the pandemic, the rising cost of living forcing people to prioritize additional paid work over volunteering, volunteer burnout, and less capacity to manage volunteers due to funding constraints in the non-profit sector.

A report by the University of Alberta, prepared for the Rural Municipalities of Alberta, indicates that this decline is amplified in rural communities, leading to a reduction in essential community services.

Moving forward

The importance of volunteering to our quality of life, to the economy, and to business performance are powerful reasons for people to volunteer and more awareness of the “payoff” is one way to help reverse the downward trend in volunteerism.

With that said, it will take more than awareness of the benefits of volunteering. In a joint post from Imagine Canada and Volunteer Canada, they argue that “it calls for meaningful public investment, policy innovation, and a renewed commitment to generosity.”

On the economic front, improving Canada’s lacklustre productivity would boost growth, and wages, potentially creating more room for volunteering.

At ATB, we are reimagining team member engagement by prioritizing high-impact group volunteerism and activities, and by empowering our people to lend their professional expertise to community boards. This translates to 1,417 ATBers volunteering and 18,000 hours of team member time in the last fiscal year. Cross-pollination of corporate expertise and community insights builds a more adaptable workforce.  

Answer to the previous trivia question: The national inflation rate reached its highest point since the 1980s in June 2022 at 8.1%.

Today’s trivia question: In what year was the first Earth Day celebrated?