Workplace civic participation can mean more than volunteering arranged by an employer. U.S. statistics show how employed people view their workplace’s community role, how often workers volunteered formally, how much time volunteers gave, and where that service took place. The measures span 2011–2015 labor-force data and 2023 employee-attitude data, so the periods should not be treated as one continuous series.
Table of contents
- What employees said about work and community in 2023
- Formal volunteering by employment status
- The four-year pattern from 2011 to 2014
- How many hours volunteers gave
- How workers entered volunteer service
- Where workers volunteered
- The scale and structure of organized service
What employees said about work and community in 2023
The AmeriCorps Volunteering and Civic Life in America report measured attitudes among employed Americans in 2023. Its response categories distinguish people who strongly agreed from those who agreed without strongly agreeing. That distinction matters: the two figures should be read as separate response groups, not automatically added together as a new estimate.
Pride in the employer was a common response. In 2023, 45% of employed Americans strongly agreed that they were proud to be working for their employer, while 51% agreed without strongly agreeing. The report also asked whether the workplace contributes to the community. Forty-three percent strongly agreed, and 48% agreed without strongly agreeing.
Work was less often identified as the main source of life satisfaction than as a source of community contribution. Nine percent of employed Americans strongly agreed that their main satisfaction in life comes from work, and 34% agreed without strongly agreeing. On the question of personal contribution through work, 28% strongly agreed that they contribute to the community through their work, while 55% agreed without strongly agreeing.
These results describe employee perceptions in 2023. They do not establish that every employer ran a volunteer program, that the contribution was organized by the employer, or that the attitude measures are directly comparable with the older Bureau of Labor Statistics volunteering series.
Formal volunteering by employment status
The Bureau of Labor Statistics Volunteering in the United States news release reported formal volunteering for the year ending in September. In that release, formal volunteering refers to service through or for an organization. The employment-status comparison shows that work status was associated with different participation rates, but the figures are rates within each group rather than counts of people.
| Employment status | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Civilian labor force | 29.1% | 28.7% | 27.5% | 27.3% |
| Employed | 29.6% | 29.1% | 27.7% | 27.5% |
| Full-time workers | 28.7% | 28.1% | 26.8% | 26.5% |
| Part-time workers | 33.3% | 33.4% | 31.7% | 31.7% |
| Unemployed | 23.8% | 23.8% | 24.1% | 24.0% |
| Not in labor force | 22.5% | 22.4% | 21.9% | 21.8% |
Part-time workers recorded the highest rate in each year shown: 33.3% in the year ending September 2011, 33.4% in 2012, 31.7% in 2013, and 31.7% in 2014. Full-time workers recorded 28.7%, 28.1%, 26.8%, and 26.5% across those same years. Employed people overall recorded 29.6%, 29.1%, 27.7%, and 27.5%.
The civilian labor force rates were 29.1% in 2011, 28.7% in 2012, 27.5% in 2013, and 27.3% in 2014. For comparison, unemployed people recorded 23.8%, 23.8%, 24.1%, and 24.0%, while people not in the labor force recorded 22.5%, 22.4%, 21.9%, and 21.8%. Each percentage belongs to its stated employment-status group and year ending in September.
The four-year pattern from 2011 to 2014
Across the period, the employed and full-time categories moved downward each year. The employed rate was 29.6% in 2011 and 27.5% in 2014; the full-time rate was 28.7% and 26.5% in those two years. The civilian labor force followed the same direction, from 29.1% to 27.3%.
Part-time volunteering was comparatively higher, but it also fell after 2012. Its rate rose from 33.3% in 2011 to 33.4% in 2012, then was 31.7% in both 2013 and 2014. The unemployed category changed less: it was 23.8% in both 2011 and 2012, reached 24.1% in 2013, and was 24.0% in 2014.
People not in the labor force had the lowest rate in each of the four years in this comparison. Their rate was 22.5% in 2011, 22.4% in 2012, 21.9% in 2013, and 21.8% in 2014. These archived BLS figures describe a specific historical period; they are not a current estimate and should not be presented as a forecast.
The table also shows why a single “worker volunteering rate” can obscure differences. In 2014, for example, the rate was 31.7% for part-time workers, 27.5% for employed people overall, and 26.5% for full-time workers. The status categories are therefore useful for describing participation patterns, while the 2023 AmeriCorps measures address perceived workplace and community relationships instead.
How many hours volunteers gave
The BLS release also reported median annual volunteer hours for the September 2014–September 2015 reference year. These are medians among volunteers in each status group, not hours averaged across every person in the population.
Civilian-labor-force volunteers had a median of 48 annual hours. Employed volunteers also had a median of 48 hours, and full-time-worker volunteers had a median of 48 hours. The median for part-time-worker volunteers was slightly higher at 49 hours.
The two non-employed groups had higher medians in this measure. Unemployed volunteers had a median of 52 annual hours, while volunteers who were not in the labor force had a median of 66 hours. Because these are medians among people who volunteered, they do not mean that every employed person contributed 48 hours or that employment itself caused the difference.
The figures give a compact view of intensity as well as participation. A rate answers how many people in a status group volunteered formally; a median-hour figure describes the typical annual amount among that group’s volunteers. For the September 2014–September 2015 reference year, the participation and time measures therefore capture different parts of civic involvement.
How workers entered volunteer service
The BLS asked volunteers how they became involved. Among employed people who volunteered in the September 2014–September 2015 reference year, 42.2% said they were asked to volunteer rather than approaching the organization themselves. Only 2.0% said a boss or employer asked them to volunteer.
Full-time volunteers reported a similar pattern: 42.8% said they were asked to volunteer, and 2.3% said a boss or employer asked them. Among part-time volunteers, 39.9% said they were asked, while 0.7% identified a boss or employer as the asker.
The comparison categories are not interchangeable. “Asked to volunteer” is broader than “asked by a boss or employer,” so the first percentage can include invitations from organizations, friends, family, or other contacts. The data show that invitations were a substantial route into service, while the specifically reported employer route was a small share of volunteers’ responses.
The same release recorded 33.3% of unemployed volunteers saying they were asked to volunteer and 1.2% saying a boss or employer asked them. Among people not in the labor force who volunteered, 40.0% said they were asked, and 0.4% said a boss or employer asked them. These figures keep the workplace channel in perspective: employment status does not mean that the employer was the recruiting organization.
Where workers volunteered
The BLS also identified the main type of organization through which volunteers served. Among employed volunteers, 5.0% served mainly through civic, political, professional, or international organizations, while 27.0% served mainly through educational or youth-service organizations.
Religious organizations were the leading reported category for the two worker subgroups represented in the supplied figures. Among full-time-worker volunteers, 30.2% served mainly through religious organizations. Among part-time-worker volunteers, the corresponding figure was 33.1%.
For the other employment-status groups, 32.2% of unemployed volunteers served mainly through educational or youth-service organizations. Among volunteers not in the labor force, 38.1% served mainly through religious organizations.
These are main-organization measures. They do not say that a volunteer served only one organization, and they do not measure the quality, duration, or employer sponsorship of the service. They do show that workplace civic participation connects workers with a range of community institutions, including educational, youth-service, religious, civic, political, professional, and international organizations.
The scale and structure of organized service
For September 2014–September 2015, the BLS estimated that about 62.6 million Americans volunteered through or for an organization at least once. The overall U.S. formal volunteering rate was 24.9% in the year ending September 2015. The two figures use the same historical reference area but answer different questions: one is an approximate number of volunteers, and the other is a population rate.
The September 2015 counts also separate employed volunteers by work schedule. The BLS counted 40.701 million employed volunteers, including 32.085 million full-time volunteers and 8.616 million part-time volunteers. These counts are historical estimates for that measurement point, not a current total or a projection.
Volunteer activity was often concentrated in one organization. Among all volunteers in 2015, 72.0% served through one organization and 18.3% served through two organizations. Those two reported shares describe the distribution of service across organizations; they should not be extended to infer the remaining categories without additional figures.
Taken together, the historical data describe organized civic participation at several levels: roughly one-quarter of Americans formally volunteered in the year ending September 2015; employed volunteers accounted for 40.701 million people in September 2015; and most volunteers served through one organization. The 2023 AmeriCorps findings add a separate perspective by recording how employed Americans viewed workplace pride, workplace contribution to the community, satisfaction from work, and contribution through work.