The number of people in the UK who are involved in voluntary and charity jobs is decreasing rapidly, according to the results of a new report.

It was reported by the UK's Labour Force Survey that the number of people who are working in the voluntary sector in the UK, where they can learn vital skills to help them gain further employment, was 723,000 in the third quarter of 2011.

This equates to a fall of around 8.7 per cent, or 70,000 jobs when compared to the year prior, and a sharp difference from the private sector, in which jobs rose by 1.5 per cent.

Keith Mogford, chief executive of Skills - Third Sector, told HR Magazine: "The sector's ability to retain a well-motivated and talented workforce will be critical to its ability to meet the future challenge of delivering higher quality services to more people with less resource."

It was revealed last week by the Trade Union Congress that workers in the UK are doing an average of 7.2 hours unpaid overtime per year.

Posted by Lee Thrace