SOEP Research: Migration and Integration

Household Income and Wealth among People with a Migration Background: A Comparison of Switzerland and Germany

Mentoring Programs Support the Integration of Refugees

Over a million people sought asylum in Germany between 2014 and 2016. During this time, many Germans began volunteering in various ways to help refugees and mentorship pro- grams in particular gained significance. As this report shows, participating in a mentorship program has a positive impact on refugees: They improve their language skills and become more socially active. Mentors experience the relationship ...

The Economic Research Potentials of the German Socio-Economic Panel Study

We provide a concise introduction to a household-panel data infrastructure that provides the international research community with longitudinal data of private households in Germany since 1984: the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). We demonstrate the comparative strength of the SOEP data in answering economically-relevant questions by highlighting its diverse and impactful applications throughout ...

First Time Around: Local Conditions and Multi-dimensional Integration of Refugees

We study the causal effect of local labor market conditions and attitudes towards immigrants at the time of arrival on refugees’ multi-dimensional integration outcomes (economic, linguistic, navigational, political, psychological, and social). Using a unique dataset on refugees, we leverage a centralized allocation policy in Germany where refugees were exogenously assigned to live in specific counties. ...

Agents of Socialization and Female Migrants’ Employment: The Influence of Mothers and the Country Context

Women around the world are on the move but find it difficult to secure jobs. Employment is vital for migrant integration as it affords financial security, autonomy in the family and helps to establish social contacts. Besides human capital, previous research has looked into ethnic origin and specific source country aspects as drivers of female migrant employment. By contrast, ideas of adolescence as ...

Tied and Troubled: Revisiting Tied Migration and Subsequent Employment

ObjectiveThis article looks at couples' migration decision making processes and their gender‐specific employment consequences after migration to Germany.BackgroundInternational migration has evolved into a common experience for couples around the globe. Previous research has focused on the internal migration of couples and families. This article is the first to consider couples' international migration ...

The Situation of Female Immigrants on the German Labour Market: A Multi-Perspective Approach

While general ethnic disadvantages are well documented, much less is known about coinciding disadvantages of ethnic origin and gender. Based on theoretical arguments of human capital theory, sociocultural approaches, labour market segmentation theory, and discrimination mechanisms, we investigate whether immigrant women experience more difficulties on the labour market than immigrant men, non-immigrant ...

Family Separation and Refugee Mental Health: a Network Perspective

How do the structure and relational features of family networks affect refugees’ mental health after migration, particularly when refugees are geographically separated from their family? Using the first wave of the IAB-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Refugees, which is representative of the population of refugees who arrived in Germany between 2013 and 2016, this study finds that the size of the nuclear family ...

Migrants’ Missing Votes

Emigrants are less likely to participate in elections in their home country. They are also selfselected in terms of education, gender, age, and political preferences, changing the structure of the origin population. High emigration rates can therefore have a systematic influence on election results. Using administrative migration and voting data, we show that counties in Poland that have experienced ...

SOEP 2020 - 14th International German Socio-Economic Panel User Conference (canceled and postponed to 2022)

Dear SOEP 2020 submitters and interested scientists, Due to ongoing health concerns and logistical problems related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the local organizing committee of the SOEP 2020 Conference is sorry to inform you that we have had to cancel the conference in 2020 and are postponing the next SOEP Conference to early July 2022. We hope you are staying healthy and safe in these...