SOEP Research: Migration and Integration

Half of the Refugees in Germany Found Their First Job through Social Contacts

In Germany, the majority of people tend to find work through friends, acquaintances, and relatives when they first enter the labor market or switch jobs. The same applies to immigrants and their offspring. Integrating refugees into the labor market is considered crucial to their overall integration into society, yet little is known about how they land their first jobs. The present paper attempts to ...

Forced Migration, Arrival in Germany, and First Steps toward Integration

A new representative survey of a total of 4,500 recently arrived refugees to Germany conducted by the Institute for Employment Research (IAB), the Research Centre of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF-FZ), and the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) has generated an entirely new database for analyzing forced migration and the ...

Die Integration Geflüchteter in der Vergangenheit: Spracherwerb und Arbeitsmarkteinbindung

Aktuell besteht eine der zentralen politischen Aufgaben in der Integration von Geflüchteten in die Gesellschaft. Integration setzt sich aus Teilprozessen, wie dem Erlernen der deutschen Sprache oder der Arbeitsmarkteinbindung, zusammen. In diesem Bericht betrachten wir diese Teilprozesse für Geflüchtete, die vor allem zwischen 1990 und 2010, nach Deutschland einreisten.

Perceptions of Discrimination: What Do They Measure and Why Do They Matter?

This study addresses the difficulty in linking ethnic discrimination and integration outcomes of immigrants in empirical research. Many of the existing studies look at the relationship between perceived discrimination and integration, but most are based on cross-sectional data. We argue that perceived discrimination should not be taken as an accurate indicator of actual experiences of discrimination, ...

In 2016, around one-third of people in Germany donated for refugees and ten percent helped out on site—yet concerns are mounting

The presence of refugees in Germany and the challenges their integration poses have preoccupied the public for the past two years. According to the latest data of the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), many more people in Germany were concerned about migration and xenophobia last year than in 2013. The additional representative results of the Barometer of Public Opinion on Refugees in Germany in 2016 and ...

"The higher educated, the more optimistic about the consequences of refugee immigration": eight questions for Philipp Eisnecker

Mr. Eisnecker, have the population’s concerns about refugee migration grown or declined? We can conclusively say that in 2015 and 2016, the population was markedly more concerned about migration – and xenophobia as well. This statement is based on data from the Socio- Economic Panel (SOEP), a longitudinal survey, which has collected data on the population’s concerns on a range of ...

Mentoring of Refugees (MORE)

The scientific study MORE is designed to deliver first results on the role of civic engagement in the short- and long-term integration of refugees in Germany. The intervention study is being carried out by the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) in partnership with the Institute for Employment Research (IAB). It is funded through the Leibniz...

Language Acquisition of Recently Arrived Immigrants in England, Germany, Ireland, and the Netherlands

This study examines processes of language acquisition among new immigrants from Poland and Turkey in different European destinations focusing on the first few months after arrival. Starting from a human capital framework, a variety of pre- and post-migration conditions of language learning are addressed, including economic and non-economic incentives, the amount of exposure to the destination language ...

Integrating Refugees: Insights from the Past: Editorial

A Variety of Measures and Initiatives Can Accelerate the Immigration Process for Today’s Refugees: Five Questions to Martin Kroh