Technical information: (202) 691-6378 USDL 08-0090
http://www.bls.gov/cps/
For release: 10:00 A.M. EST
Media contact: (202) 691-5902 Wednesday, January 23, 2008
(NOTE: This release was reissued on Friday, February 8, 2008, to acknowl-
edge the Corporation for National and Community Service in the second para-
graph as the sponsor of the supplement. No other changes were made to
the news release.)
VOLUNTEERING IN THE UNITED STATES, 2007
About 60.8 million people volunteered through or for an organization at
least once between September 2006 and September 2007, the Bureau of Labor
Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The proportion
of the population who volunteered was 26.2 percent. This 0.5 percentage
point decrease in the volunteer rate follows a decline of 2.1 percentage
points in the prior year. The volunteer rate had held constant at 28.8 per-
cent from 2003 through 2005, after rising slightly from its 2002 level of
27.4 percent.
These data on volunteering were collected through a supplement to the
September 2007 Current Population Survey (CPS). The supplement was spon-
sored 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 among 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
In the year ending September 2007, both the number of volunteers and the
volunteer rate declined from the previous year. About 29.3 percent of women
did volunteer work during the year, down from 30.1 percent during the prior
year. The volunteer rate for men was about unchanged at 22.9 percent. As
in previous years, women volunteered at a higher rate than men across all
age groups, educational levels, and other major characteristics. (See tables
A and 1.)
By age, persons age 35 to 54 continued to be the most likely to volunteer
(30.3 percent), while persons in their early twenties were the least likely
(17.7 percent). The volunteer rate for teens showed the largest decline in
the year ending in September 2007; the rate for females age 16 to 19 fell
from 28.8 to 26.6 percent and the volunteer rate for males of that age fell
from 24.1 to 22.5 percent.
Whites continued to volunteer at a higher rate (27.9 percent) than blacks
(18.2 percent) and Asians (17.7 percent). Among Hispanics, 13.5 percent
volunteered.
Married persons volunteered at a higher rate (31.9 percent) than those
who had never married (19.2 percent) and those with other marital statuses
(20.9 percent). Parents with children under age 18 were substantially more
likely to volunteer than were persons without children of that age, 33.7
versus 23.2 percent.
Individuals with higher levels of educational attainment volunteered at
higher rates than did those with less education. Among persons age 25 and
over, more than 4 in 10 college graduates volunteered compared with fewer
than 2 in 10 high school graduates and almost 1 in 10 of those with less
than a high school diploma. The volunteer rate of college graduates of
each sex declined more than did that of individuals of that sex with lower
levels of education.
Among employed persons, 28.3 percent had volunteered during the year
ended in September 2007. By comparison, 23.2 percent of unemployed persons
and 22.3 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--35.4 versus 26.9 percent.
Total Annual Hours Spent Volunteering
Volunteers of both sexes spent a median of 52 hours on volunteer activi-
ties during the period from September 2006 to September 2007. Median annual
hours spent on volunteer activities ranged from a high of 96 hours for vol-
unteers age 65 and over to a low of 36 hours for those 25 to 34 years old.
(See table 2.)
- 2 -
Table A. Volunteers by selected characteristics, September 2003 through September 2007
(Numbers in thousands)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|September 2003|September 2004|September 2005|September 2006|September 2007
Characteristic |---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| |Percent| |Percent| |Percent| |Percent| |Percent
|Number|of pop-|Number|of pop-|Number|of pop-|Number|of pop-|Number|of pop-
| |ulation| |ulation| |ulation| |ulation| |ulation
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sex | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | |
Total, both sexes ............|63,791| 28.8 |64,542| 28.8 |65,357| 28.8 |61,199| 26.7 |60,838| 26.2
Men .......................|26,805| 25.1 |27,011| 25.0 |27,370| 25.0 |25,546| 23.0 |25,724| 22.9
Women .....................|36,987| 32.2 |37,530| 32.4 |37,987| 32.4 |35,653| 30.1 |35,114| 29.3
| | | | | | | | | |
Age | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | |
Total, 16 years and over .....|63,791| 28.8 |64,542| 28.8 |65,357| 28.8 |61,199| 26.7 |60,838| 26.2
16 to 24 years ............| 8,671| 24.1 | 8,821| 24.2 | 8,955| 24.4 | 8,044| 21.7 | 7,798| 20.8
25 to 34 years ............|10,337| 26.5 |10,046| 25.8 | 9,881| 25.3 | 9,096| 23.1 | 9,019| 22.6
35 to 44 years ............|15,165| 34.7 |14,783| 34.2 |14,809| 34.5 |13,308| 31.2 |12,902| 30.5
45 to 54 years ............|13,302| 32.7 |13,584| 32.8 |13,826| 32.7 |13,415| 31.2 |13,136| 30.1
55 to 64 years ............| 8,170| 29.2 | 8,784| 30.1 | 9,173| 30.2 | 8,819| 27.9 | 9,316| 28.4
65 years and over .........| 8,146| 23.7 | 8,524| 24.6 | 8,712| 24.8 | 8,518| 23.8 | 8,667| 23.8
| | | | | | | | | |
Race and Hispanic or Latino | | | | | | | | | |
ethnicity | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | |
White .......................|55,572| 30.6 |55,892| 30.5 |56,170| 30.4 |52,850| 28.3 |52,586| 27.9
Black or African American ...| 5,145| 20.0 | 5,435| 20.8 | 5,879| 22.1 | 5,211| 19.2 | 5,010| 18.2
Asian .......................| 1,735| 18.7 | 1,832| 19.3 | 2,055| 20.7 | 1,881| 18.5 | 1,887| 17.7
Hispanic or Latino ethnicity .| 4,364| 15.7 | 4,102| 14.5 | 4,511| 15.4 | 4,212| 13.9 | 4,279| 13.5
| | | | | | | | | |
Educational attainment (1) | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | |
Less than a high school | | | | | | | | | |
diploma .....................| 2,793| 9.9 | 2,718| 9.6 | 2,837| 10.0 | 2,615| 9.3 | 2,394| 9.0
High school graduates, no | | | | | | | | | |
college (2). ................|12,882| 21.7 |12,709| 21.6 |12,594| 21.2 |11,537| 19.2 |11,379| 18.6
Some college or associate | | | | | | | | | |
degree ......................|15,966| 34.1 |16,414| 34.2 |16,452| 33.7 |15,196| 30.9 |15,468| 30.7
Bachelor's degree and | | | | | | | | | |
higher (3) ..................|23,481| 45.6 |23,880| 45.7 |24,517| 45.8 |23,808| 43.3 |23,799| 41.8
| | | | | | | | | |
Employment status | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | |
Civilian labor force .........|45,499| 30.9 |45,896| 30.9 |46,872| 31.1 |43,579| 28.5 |43,405| 28.1
Employed ..................|43,138| 31.2 |43,886| 31.2 |44,894| 31.3 |41,861| 28.7 |41,708| 28.3
Full time (4) ...........|33,599| 29.6 |34,237| 29.6 |35,225| 29.8 |32,951| 27.3 |32,714| 26.9
Part time (5) ...........| 9,539| 38.4 | 9,649| 38.5 | 9,669| 38.2 | 8,910| 35.5 | 8,994| 35.4
Unemployed.................| 2,361| 26.7 | 2,010| 25.6 | 1,978| 26.4 | 1,718| 23.8 | 1,697| 23.2
Not in the labor force........|18,293| 24.6 |18,646| 24.7 |18,485| 24.4 |17,621| 23.1 |17,433| 22.3
| | | | | | | | | |
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1 Data refer to persons 25 years and over.
2 Includes persons with a high school diploma or equivalent.
3 Includes persons with bachelor's, master's, professional, and doctoral degrees.
4 Usually work 35 hours or more a week at all jobs.
5 Usually work less than 35 hours a week at all jobs.
NOTE: Estimates for the above race groups (white, black or African American, and Asian) do not sum to
totals because data are not presented for all races. Persons whose ethnicity is identified as Hispanic or
Latino may be of any race. Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of
January data. See the Technical Note for further information.
- 3 -
Number and Type of Organizations
Most volunteers were involved with either one or two organizations--68.8
and 19.7 percent, respectively. Individuals with higher educational attain-
ment were more likely to volunteer for multiple organizations than were those
with less education. Parents also were somewhat more likely to volunteer for
more than one organization than were persons without children under 18. (See
table 3.)
The main organization--the organization for which the volunteer worked the
most hours during the year--was most frequently religious (35.6 percent of
all volunteers), followed by educational/youth service related (26.2 percent).
Another 13.1 percent of volunteers performed activities mainly for social or
community service organizations. (See table 4.)
Older volunteers were more likely to volunteer mainly for religious organi-
zations than were their younger counterparts. For example, 47.2 percent of
volunteers age 65 and over did their service mainly through or for a religious
organization compared with 29.9 percent of volunteers age 16 to 24 years.
Among volunteers with children under 18 years old, 45.7 percent of mothers
and 37.7 percent of fathers volunteered mainly for an educational/youth ser-
vice-related organization, such as a school or scouting group. Volunteers
without children under 18 were considerably more likely than parents to vol-
unteer for other types of organizations, such as hospitals or other health
organizations and social or community service organizations.
Main Volunteer Activity for Main Organization
When volunteers were asked the main activity they performed for their main
organization, fundraising (10.9 percent) and tutoring or teaching (10.8 per-
cent) were the most frequently reported. Men and women tended to engage in
different main activities. Male volunteers were most likely to engage in
general labor (12.4 percent) or to coach, referee, or supervise sports teams
(10.0 percent), while female volunteers were most likely to tutor or teach
(12.9 percent) or fundraise (12.4 percent). (See table 5.)
Educational attainment influenced the types of activities volunteers per-
formed. College graduates were more likely than those with less education
to provide professional or management assistance or to tutor or teach. They
were least likely to collect, prepare, distribute, or serve food or to engage
in general labor.
Parents were considerably more likely than those without children to engage
in some types of volunteer activities that are frequently related to children,
including coaching, refereeing, or supervising sports teams; tutoring or teach-
ing; mentoring youth; and fundraising.
How Volunteers Became Involved with Main Organization
About 44.6 percent of volunteers became involved with their main organiza-
tion after being asked to volunteer, most often by someone in the organization.
A slightly smaller proportion, 40.1 percent, became involved on their own ini-
tiative; that is, they approached the organization. (See table 6.)
Bureau of Labor Statistics
