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Voluntary Work and Generous Unemployment Benefits As a Replacement for the Loss of Manifest and Latent Benefits of Paid Work
Using multilevel data from the European Quality of Life Survey for unemployed individuals in 29 European countries and various external sources, this article finds that in countries with more generous unemployment benefits, all unemployed people, regardless of whether they volunteer, have better mental health, and higher happiness, life satisfaction, and life fulfilment. We also found that unemployed people who volunteer more regularly are more likely to have better mental health in countries with higher unemployment benefits, compared to unemployed people who do the same level of volunteering in countries with a lower level of unemployment benefits; and unemployed people who volunteer frequently report that their life is more worthwhile than the unemployed who do not volunteer.
The main conclusion is that although voluntary work constitutes an alternative source of activity and identity which gives people feeling that their lives are worthwhile, the generosity of unemployment benefits is vital for maintaining good mental health and high level of wellbeing during unemployment. These findings indicate that Beck’s vision of civil labour in multi-activity society can only become a reality if voluntary work is combined with generous welfare benefits.