Labour Economy

At Voluntary Aid, we work to promote a voluntary sector that supports national productivity and the labor economy by harnessing the efforts of volunteers to boost job creation, public service delivery, skills development, and workforce engagement for economic growth.

Volunteer work is a sizeable part of the labour force in most countries and makes a significant economic contribution. For example, Statistics Canada recently reported that the contribution to the GDP from volunteers in that country exceeded the GDP contribution of agriculture. Yet most countries lack reliable structures and policy frameworks to measure the value, recognize, and create social support systems to boost volunteer work and services. As a result, volunteer work remains undervalued and its potential under-realized, leaving volunteers, Volunteer Involving Organisations, policymakers, government officials, and business leaders without the vital information they need to effectively manage and support this crucial sustainable resource for societal problem-solving.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) and its 18th International Conference of Labour Statisticians have officially recognized that volunteering is a form of “work,” with an economic value, and that this value should be systematically counted. In response, many other countries are already counting it.

Also, the Nigeria Labour Act, in Section 74 (1), recognized volunteer work as labour required in emergencies, community services, and labour that forms part of normal communal or other civil obligations. Today, citizens now engage in formal volunteer work with public and corporate establishments, and mostly employers in the non-profit sector.

In examining the labour market outcome of volunteer activities in Nigeria, VADO is at the forefront of developing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for measuring voluntary work and providing valuable data and information on how the labour market is being bolstered by the activities of volunteers. Moreover, understanding the impact volunteers have on the labour market could help the government and development agencies create more informed, inclusive, and effective institutional policies to support volunteers and the ecosystems where they serve.