Measuring the Size of the Third Pillar: A Global Dataset

• In Event: Comparative studies on the Third Sector

Abstract

The size of the third pillar (i.e., any association of people that is neither public nor private) across the globe is still unknown, with standardized data lacking, even though frameworks exist for such collec-tion (e.g., International Labour Organization [ILO], 2011; Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2003, 2020). Although estimations for certain regions have been made (e.g., Salamon & Sokolowski, 2018), and a volunteer rate was obtained for 52 countries using ILO’s (2011) manual, estimations for the global third pillar size (i.e., a majority of all countries) have not yet been made. The current study contributes to the literature on the third pillar by providing a first global dataset on the size of the third pillar, to facilitate research on its relevance in both academic and policy debates.

To construct our global dataset, five data sources were combined (i.e., working population character-istics, labour market structure, level of economic development, political regime, and third pillar size). Fifty countries with complete data remained. The labour market structure, the level of economic de-velopment, and the political regime were used as predictors in a Random Forest model using k-Fold Cross-Validation (k = 10) to compute third pillar size, measured as Third Pillar Time (TPT; percentage of total employment). TPT was estimated for the 50 countries with complete data as well as the 67 other countries with data on the labour market structure, the level of economic development, and the political regime, but no data on third pillar size. We also calculated Third Pillar Participation (TPP) to evaluate how many people are active as a volunteer in the third pillar (as opposed to a percentage of total employment). To do so, we computed a ratio between third pillar size (i.e., percentage of total employment) and the ILO’s organization-based volunteering data (i.e., share of adults that voluntarily contributed in the past 12 months to an organization, community, or group). Thirty-four countries had data on both, which were used to calculate the ratio. We then applied this ratio to the TPT esti-mate from our model to calculate a global TPP.

Based on the 117 countries for which TPT was estimated, our model determined that TPT accounts for 5.1% of total employment. For context, this is equivalent to more than half of the total employment percentage of the agricultural sector globally (9.8%). Our TPP calculation revealed that 12.7% of adults were active as a volunteer in the third pillar, meaning more than 1 in 8 of the world’s adult population has been active as a volunteer in an organization, community, or group in the last 12 months.

By combining country-level data to construct a global dataset on the size of the third pillar for 117 countries, we have laid the groundwork for future research on the size of the third pillar. This global dataset can be used to determine relationships between the third pillar size and other societal out-comes on a global scale, which will facilitate our understanding of the relevance of the third pillar.

References

International Labour Organization (2011). Manual on the measurement of volunteer work. International Labour Office. https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---stat/documents/publication/wcms_162119.pdf
Salamon L. M., Sokolowski, S. W. (2018). The size and composition of the European third sector. In Enjolras, B., Salamon, L. M., Sivesind, K. H., & Zimmer, A. (Eds.), The third sector as a renewable resource for Europe (pp. 49-94). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71473-8
Department of Economic and Social Affairs. (2003). Handbook on non-profit institutions in the system of national accounts. United Nations. https://unstats.un.org/unsd/publication/seriesf/seriesf_91e.pdf
Department of Economic and Social Affairs. (2020). Satellite account on non-profit and related institu-tions and volunteer work. United Nations. https://unstats.un.org/unsd/nationalaccount/docs/UN_TSE_HB_FNL_web.pdf

Authors

• Fritz Schiltz, Belgian Red Cross-Flanders

• Kelsey Mackay, Third Pillar Research Center, Rode Kruis-Vlaanderen

• Philippe Vandekerckhove, Belgian Red Cross-Flanders