When voluntary work makes you sick

Kamerāde, D; Bennett, MR

Abstract

Due to growing labour market deregulation and flexibilisation an increasing number of people are likely to experience unemployment and declining mental health and well-being associated with it. This article explores whether engagement in voluntary work and generous unemployment benefits improves well-being and mental health for the unemployed. Using multilevel data from the European Quality of Life Survey on unemployed individuals in 29 European countries and various external sources, this study finds that the unemployed, regardless of voluntary activity, have higher levels of well-being and mental health in countries with more generous unemployment benefits. The results also suggest that regular volunteering can be detrimental for mental health in a country with less generous unemployment benefits. This presentation concludes that individual agency exercised through voluntary work can partially improve well-being but the generosity of unemployment benefits is vital for alleviating negative mental health effects of unemployment.

Citation

Kamerāde, D., & Bennett, M. (2017, November). When voluntary work makes you sick. Presented at Social (In)Security: Lived Experiences of the Benefits System, Manchester Museum of Industry and Science

• Presentation Conference Type: Speech
• Conference Name: Social (In)Security: Lived Experiences of the Benefits System
• Conference Location: Manchester Museum of Industry and Science
• Start Date: Nov 8, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Nov 8, 2017
• Publication Date: Nov 8, 2017
• Deposit Date: Nov 8, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 8, 2017
• Additional Information: Event Type : Workshop