Fewer Americans are donating their free time

[fgoodwin]

Fewer Americans are donating their free time

 

http://www.kansascity.com/business/story/458091.html

http://tinyurl.com/2rn4xr

 

Posted on Wed, Jan. 23, 2008

By DIANE STAFFORD

 

Americans worked a median of 52 hours last year without pay.

 

Theyre called volunteers.

 

Many organizations cant survive without unpaid labor, and many people are glad to provide it.

 

Sadly, though, data released Wednesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show that both the number of volunteers and the volunteer rate the percentage of the population that volunteers declined in 2007 from 2006.

 

Volunteering also had fallen in 2006 from 2005.

 

About 60.8 million Americans, age 16 and up, volunteered in 2007, compared with a high of 65.3 million in 2005.

 

The proportion of that population that did unpaid work for an organization last year was 26.2 percent, compared with 28.8 percent in 2005 (a percentage that had held steady for several years).

 

The numbers and the trend are disturbing. How can it be that three-fourths of the population is so disconnected or cares so little about any project or cause that they dont spare a few hours in a year to help out?

 

[excerpted]

[Gold Winger]

I would guess that it is the result of two things:

 

America is becoming more of a white collar country and many salaried people just put in too many hours to have free time for volunteer work.

 

Many of those who aren't white collar workers are working two jobs to make ends meet.