Volunteering is up!

Feb. 3, 2010 -- Americans have answered President Obama's call to service, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which reported a significant increase in the number of volunteers and the volunteer rate in 2009. According to the BLS report, 1.5 million more Americans volunteered between September 2008 and September 2009 than did in the previous year. Approximately 63.4 million people, or 26.8 percent of the population, volunteered through or for an organization in 2009 compared to 61.8 million in 2008. While previous studies have shown that young people lead in volunteer rates, in this study volunteer rates were lowest among persons in their early twenties (18.8 percent) and those age 65 and over (23.9 percent).