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Institute for Workplace Studies-----------------Professor Samuel B. Bacharach

School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies

Cornell University

16 East 34th Street, 4th floor--------------------Stuart Basefsky

New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau

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VOLUNTEERING IN THE UNITED STATES: 2014 [25 February 2015]

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/volun.nr0.htm

or

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/volun.pdf

[full-text, 12 pages]

 

The volunteer rate was little changed at 25.3 percent for the year ending in

September 2014, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. About 62.8

million people volunteered through or for an organization at least once between

September 2013 and September 2014. The volunteer rate in 2013 was 25.4 percent.

 

These data on volunteering were collected through a supplement to the September

2014 Current Population Survey (CPS). The supplement was sponsored by the

Corporation for National and Community Service. The CPS is a monthly survey of

about 60,000 households that obtains information on employment and unemployment

for the nation's civilian noninstitutional population age 16 and over. Volunteers

are defined as persons who did unpaid work (except for expenses) through or for

an organization. For more information about the volunteer supplement, see the

Technical Note.

 

Volunteering Among Demographic Groups

 

The volunteer rates for both men and women (22.0 percent and 28.3 percent,

respectively) were little changed in the year ending in September 2014. Women

continued to volunteer at a higher rate than did men across all age groups,

educational levels, and other major demographic characteristics. (See tables

A and 1.)

 

By age, 35- to 44-year-olds were most likely to volunteer (29.8 percent).

Volunteer rates were lowest among 20- to 24-year-olds (18.7 percent). For persons

45 years and over, the volunteer rate tapered off as age increased. Teenagers

(16- to 19-year-olds) had a volunteer rate of 26.1 percent.

 

Among the major race and ethnicity groups, whites continued to volunteer at a

higher rate (26.7 percent) than did blacks (19.7 percent), Asians (18.2 percent),

and Hispanics (15.5 percent). Of these groups, the volunteer rate declined for

whites (by 0.4 percentage point) and increased for blacks (by 1.2 percentage

points) in 2014. The volunteer rate for Asians edged down by 0.8 percentage point,

and the rate for Hispanics was unchanged.

 

Married persons volunteered at a higher rate (30.0 percent) in 2014 than did those

who had never married (20.2 percent) and those with other marital statuses

(21.1 percent). Over the year, the rate declined for married persons by 0.7

percentage point. In 2014, the volunteer rate of parents with children under age

18 (31.6 percent) remained higher than the rate for persons without children under

age 18 (23.0 percent). The volunteer rate of parents with children under age 18

declined over the year, while the rate for persons without children under age 18

was little changed.

 

Individuals with higher levels of education engaged in volunteer activities at

higher rates than did those with less education in 2014. Among persons age 25 and

over, 39.4 percent of college graduates volunteered, compared with 27.3 percent of

persons with some college or an associate's degree, 16.4 percent of high school

graduates, and 8.8 percent of those with less than a high school diploma. The rate

of volunteering was little changed over the year for persons across all levels of

educational attainment.

 

Volunteers by Employment Status

 

During the year ending in September 2014, 27.5 percent of employed persons

volunteered. By comparison, 24.0 percent of unemployed persons and 21.8 percent

of those not in the labor force volunteered. Among the employed, part-time workers

were more likely than full-time workers to have participated in volunteer activities--

31.7 percent, compared with 26.5 percent. (See table 1.)

 

AND MUCH MORE...including TABLES....

 

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