Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

The Evolution of Immigrants’ Homeownership in Germany

Recently, the homeownership rate of immigrants in Germany has increased by more than 20 percentage points. To shed light on this sharp rise, this paper investigates the driving forces of the trend in the homeownership rate of immigrant households in Germany between 1996 to 2005 and 2001 to 2011 using a probit-based non-linear decomposition method. Empirical findings suggest that 50 % of the change ...

Hours Reductions as Work-Sharing

Has Work-Sharing Worked in Germany?

The Response of Wages and Actual Hours Worked to the Reduction of Standard Hours

Why Do People Still Live in East Germany?

In 1997 GDP per capita in East Germany was 57% of that of West Germany, wage rates were 75% of western levels, and the unemployment rate was at least double the western rate of 7.8%. One would expect that if capital flows and trade in goods failed to bring convergence, labor flows would respond, enhancing overall efficiency. Yet net emigration from East Germany has fallen from high levels in 1989-1990 ...

Post-Unification Wage Growth in East Germany

The Transition in East Germany: When is a Ten Point Fall in the Gender Wage Gap Bad News?

The gender wage gap in East Germany has narrowed by 10 percentage points in transition, but women have experienced much more severe employment difficulties than men. Using the German Socio-Economic Panel for 1990–94, I show that on balance women have lost relative to men. Almost half the relative wage gain is due to exits from employment of the low skilled, who are disproportionately women. The female ...

Are Migrants More Skilled than Non-Migrants? Repeat, return, and same-employer migrants

Convergence and determinants of non-employment durations in Eastern and Western Germany

Staunching emigration from East Germany: Age and the determinants of migration