2003 Volunteering in the United States — 2003-12-17

Both the number of volunteers and the volunteer rate rose over the year ended in September 2003, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. About 63.8 million people did vol- unteer work at some point from September 2002 to September 2003, up from 59.8 million for the similar period ended in September 2002. The volun- teer rate grew to 28.8 percent, up from 27.4 percent. These data on volunteering were collected through a supplement to the September 2003 Current Population Survey (CPS). Volunteers are defined as persons who did unpaid work (except for expenses) through or for an organ- ization. The CPS is a monthly survey of about 60,000 households that obtains information on employment and unemployment among the nation's civilian nonin- stitutional population age 16 and over. For more information about the vol- unteer supplement, see the Technical Note.