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February 1991

Volunteers in the U.S.: who donates time?

Howard Hayghe

One in every five Americans does some volunteer work for church, school, other organizations. This article reports that about 38 million people volunteered for work without pay for an institution or organization at some time during the year ended in May 1989. The article examines findings from supplementary questions included in the Current Population Survey, and compares the findings to those from earlier surveys on the same subject, providing a historical perspective on the phenomenon of volunteer activity.

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