Starting point of the article is the discussion about possibilities to defuse the crisis on the German labor market by supporting volunteer work. Therefore, the effects of unemployment on the probability to volunteer are of special interest. For this purpose, logistic regressions are estimated for the years 1992 and 1996, using longitudinal data from the West German sub-sample of the German Socioeconomic-Panel (GSOEP). There is no evidence for an increasing propensity to take up or maintain volunteer work among the unemployed. In contrast, it is shown that the chance to volunteer especially increases with a higher educational degree or if the person lives in ,secure' family circumstances. On the ,volunteer market' similar qualifications are in demand, which also support a successful participation in the regular labour market. Therefore, the hope that an assumed individually higher willingness to volunteer among the unemployed may contribute to cope with the general labour market crisis turns out to be misleading. Especially low-educated persons, being a problem group on the labour market, do not look at volunteering as an adequate activity for themselves.
