2015 Volunteering in the United States — 2016-02-25

The volunteer rate declined by 0.4 percentage point to 24.9 percent for the year ending in September 2015, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. About 62.6 million people volunteered through or for an organization at least once between September 2014 and September 2015. These data on volunteering were collected through a supplement to the September 2015 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 in this news release. The volunteer rate for men was little changed at 21.8 percent for the year ending in September 2015.