Kamerāde, D. and Bennett, M.R. orcid.org/0000-0002-9523-6053 (2018) Rewarding work: cross-national differences in benefits, volunteering during unemployment, well-being and mental health. Work, Employment and Society, 32 (1). pp. 38-56. ISSN 0950-0170
Abstract
Owing to increasing labour market flexibilization, a growing number of people are likely to experience unemployment and, as a consequence, lower mental health and well-being. This article examines cross-national differences in well-being and mental health between unemployed people who engage in voluntary work and those who do not, using multilevel data from the European Quality of Life Survey on unemployed individuals in 29 European countries and other external sources. This article finds that, regardless of their voluntary activity, unemployed people have higher levels of well-being and mental health in countries with more generous unemployment benefits. Unexpectedly, the results also suggest that regular volunteering can actually be detrimental for mental health in countries with less generous unemployment benefits. This article concludes that individual agency exercised through voluntary work can partially improve well-being but the generosity of unemployment benefits is vital for alleviating the negative mental health effects of unemployment.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2017 The Author(s). This is an author produced version of a paper subsequently published in Work, Employment and Society. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. Article available under the terms of the CC-BY-NC-ND licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). |
Keywords: | agency; future of work; labour decommodification; mental health; multi-activity society; unemployment; voluntary work; welfare generosity; well-being |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 03 Sep 2021 12:43 |
Last Modified: | 03 Sep 2021 12:43 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | SAGE Publications |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1177/0950017016686030 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:177795 |