Racial Inequality in Volunteering and Employment

Do racial disparities in the paid labor market also extend to the unpaid labor market? Using American Time Use Survey (ATUS) data, we find that Black people spend 13% less time at work than white people, and 17% less time in volunteering. Using an Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition, we show that differences in observable characteristics explain away the racial gap in volunteering. By contrast, the gap in paid work cannot be explained away, consistent with broader racial disparities in the labor market. Substantively, we find that racial differences in human capital (education) play an essential role in explaining the gap in volunteering. Furthermore, stark differences appear when we examine where volunteering takes place: Black people are more likely to volunteer in religious instead of secular venues. Our results suggest that structural inequalities in education and volunteering opportunities feed into racial gaps in both paid and unpaid work.