Nine associations out of ten operate without employees

France had 1.3 million active associations in 2013. They were involved mainly in four areas: sport, leisure, culture and defence of causes, rights or interests. Only 12% of associations had employees, most often one or two. The majority of association employees were employed in social, humanitarian or charitable work, social or residential care housing and health. Moreover, staff made available by other organisations often participated in the activity of education and training associations with staff. In all, employees’ work in associations represented 7% of the full-time equivalent work carried out in the economy overall. Volunteers were involved in all activity areas and almost all associations, even those with employees. The volume of work allocated to them corresponded to 680,000 full-time equivalent jobs. Financial resources estimated at a total of 104 billion euros were heavily concentrated in associations with employees, especially those involved in social, humanitarian or charitable work, social or residential care housing, health and education. These resources came mainly from activity income of private or public origin.