Perceived social exclusion in middle and later working life: can volunteering mitigate the negative consequences of non-participation in paid work?

This article examines how volunteering in formally and individually organised settings can help to reduce feelings of social exclusion associated with non-participation in paid work by using the German Survey on Volunteering (FWS) 2019 and applying linear probability models to people in middle and later working age. The results show that both unemployment and other forms of non-employment are associated with an increased risk of perceived social exclusion compared to employment. Volunteering is associated with a lower likelihood of feeling socially excluded for both women and men. In addition, it can at least partly mitigate the negative consequences of not being in paid employment. Reducing barriers to volunteering could therefore be a way of counteracting the perceived social exclusion of people not participating in the labour market, in addition to improving opportunities to (re-)enter the labour market in middle and older working age.