Voluntary sector paid workforce 2011/12

According to the latest figures from the Labour Force Survey, the voluntary’s sector paid workforce grew by 6 percent over the calendar year 2011/12.

The most recent analysis in the Labour Force Survey shows a total of 804,000 paid employees in the sector, the second highest total since records began.

An extra 45,000 individuals joined the voluntary sector workforce over the 12 months to December 2012. The vast majority of this group is men (42,000), whilst there was a decrease in the proportion of the workforce which is female by 3.5 percent over the 12 months to December 2012. Overall, female employees account for nearly two-thirds (65.4 percent) of the voluntary sector workforce.

Part-time employees represent over a third (36.6 percent) of the voluntary sector workforce and the numbers doing so because they could not find full-time employment increased by 29 percent over 2011/12. In addition, the voluntary sector contains a higher proportion of non-permanent employees (11.7 percent) than in other sectors.

The proportion of non-permanent job roles created increased by 13.4 percent, compared with an increase of just 4.3 percent in permanent job roles. Meanwhile, the number of voluntary sector employees who reported that they had received job-related training or education in the last three months decreased by 3.9 percent over 2011/12.

The Labour Force Survey findings are produced by Skills – Third Sector in partnership with the Third Sector Research Centre and NCVO.