High School Volunteering Drops, But Not For Long

Youth voting was up in 2008, but volunteering was down in 2007 ('08 data will be available later this year). Yet, it's not all bad news, as Peter Levine notes, "They're still volunteering at higher rates than their parents did." Additionally, some of us - depending on when your parents were born - are voting at higher rates, too. (So, stop calling Millennials 'lazy'.)

This news of a drop in high school volunteering may come as a surprise, especially as other stories report increasing service in 2009, which is partly due to the flagging economy and the growing number of under- and unemployed young Americans. CIRCLE's research uses data from the Current Population Survey, the largest public data set gauging the country's volunteerism, which is fielded annually in September. So, 2009 volunteer data still has some time to be recorded, and it's likely (when the data is released in 2010) given recent anecdotal evidence, and the signing of the GIVE/Serve America Act last Tuesday, that data will confirm a rise in volunteering this year.

While the AP story focused on 16-18 year olds, the overall pictures of youth volunteering has changed somewhat, too.

The data for 2007 show some decline in volunteering among young people, particularly high school students and college freshmen. The rate of volunteering for 16-to-18 year-olds peaked in 2005, at 33%, but has since declined by six percentage points. Traditionally, the 16-to-18 year-old cluster volunteered at a slightly higher rate than other age groups, but in 2007, people 25 or older volunteered at a slightly higher rate than 16-to-18 year-olds. The volunteer rate for the population aged 25 years and older has changed very little (2% or less) since 2002, and was 28% in 2007. (PDF)

Some trends did not change. The plurality (21%) of young volunteers got involved through religious organizations, but that varies by location, naturally.

While many factors are related to volunteering rates, perhaps the most notable feature of Salt Lake City volunteers is their affiliation with religious organizations...about half of 19-to-24 year-old SLC volunteers did [sic] performed their services at or though religious organizations. This is especially notable in contrast to their peers in the Boston area, where only 21% of volunteers donated their time at religious organizations.