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This article discusses how global crises affect the return of international migrants. It develops a theoretical model and tests this contribution empirically taking Covid-19 as an instance of a global crisis. Existing studies have treated migration and mobility mostly as phenomena of virus dispersion. The reverse impact of Covid-19 on migration has attracted less attention. This article draws on a unique probability-sample of German emigrants to investigate actual return migration during the first year of Covid19. These panel survey data were collected immediately before the pandemic onset in winter 2019 and one year later in winter 2020. We enhance these data with publicly available country-level data on Covid-19 incidence, excess mortality and Covid-19- induced democratic violations. Our findings from multi-level regression models suggest a moderate impact of country-specific pandemic indicators on return migration behaviour. Moreover, democratic violations in countries of residence and aggravating economic situations of individual households increase the likelihood of return. We conclude with a discussion of what can be learnt from the case of German return migrants about crisis migration in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Millions of Ukrainians have been displaced by the Russian war on Ukraine, with over one million alone coming to Germany since the beginning of the war. Data from the second survey wave of the IAB-BiB/FReDA-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Ukrainian Refugees in Germany study show that as of the beginning of 2023, an increasing share of Ukrainian refugees plan on staying in Germany for the longer term. Around three quarters have found private accommodation and a similarly large share have already attended or are currently attending German language courses. Eighteen percent of the 18 to 64 year olds are employed; of the rest, over two thirds intend to start working immediately or within the next year. While almost all refugee children and adolescents of school age are attending a general or vocational school in Germany, only six out of ten children between three and six years old are attending daycare. To increase refugees' social participation and, in light of the high share of mothers among them, childcare options should be improved. This would facilitate participation in integration and language courses as well as the path to employment. In addition, it is crucial to quickly decide on the extension of Ukrainian refugees' right of residence, which is currently limited until March 2024, thus making their legal status more certain and planning possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates how mail-based online panel recruitment can be facilitated through incentives. The analysis relies on two incentive experiments and their effects on panel recruitment, and the intermediate participation in the recruitment survey. The experiments were implemented in the context of the German Emigration and Remigration Panel Study and encompass two samples of randomly sampled persons. Tested incentives include a conditional lottery, conditional monetary incentives, and the combination of unconditional money-in-hand with conditional monetary incentives. For an encompassing evaluation of the link between incentives and panel recruitment, the article further assesses the incentives' implications for demographic composition and panel recruitment unit costs. Multivariate analysis indicates that low combined incentives (€5/€5) or, where unconditional disbursement is unfeasible, high conditional incentives (€20) are most effective in enhancing panel participation. In terms of demographic bias, low combined incentives (€5/€5) and €10 conditional incentives are the favored options. The budget options from the perspective of panel recruitment include the lottery and the €10 conditional incentive which break-even at net sample sizes of 1000. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study describes the first wave of the IAB-BiB/FReDA-BAMF-SOEP Survey on Ukrainian Refugees in Germany, a unique panel dataset based on over 11,000 interviews conducted between August and October 2022. The aim of the IAB-BiB/FReDA-BAMF-SOEP Survey is to provide a data-infrastructure for theorydriven and evidence-based research on various aspects of integration among Ukrainian refugees in Germany, the second most important destination country in the EU after Poland, hosting over a million people who arrived in Germany shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Based on the survey, this study also provides first insights into demographic, educational, linguistic, occupational, and social characteristics of this population. The analyses revealed that the refugee population comprised mostly young and educated individuals, with a significant proportion of females without partners and female-headed separated families. While German language skills were limited, about half of Ukrainian refugees had attended or were attending language courses. However, the integration process faced significant challenges, as the participation of children in day-care was relatively low, and the self-reported life satisfaction was markedly below the average of the German population. The study highlights the need for targeted policy measures to address such issues. Additionally, policies may aim at harnessing the high potential of the Ukrainian refugees for the German labor market. Given that a substantial proportion would like to stay in Germany permanently, policymakers should take note of these findings and aim to facilitate their long-term integration process to ensure that these refugees may thrive in Germany. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, many people have fled the war and left their home country. By the end of January 2023, more than one million Ukrainian refugees had been registered in Germany alone. In contrast to refugees from other countries of origin in Germany, Ukrainian citizens can choose their place of residence if they have either found private accommodation with family members or friends or do not claim state support. However, little information exists on where within Germany Ukrainian refugees have moved and why certain regions are potentially more attractive than others. There exists a substantial literature on the location choices of migrants in general, showing that the existing level of immigrant concentration is an important determinant, while economic factors have a smaller effect - if not in the initial location choice after immigration, then at least in later location decisions. Whereas these studies mainly focus on labour migrants, research on refugees' location choices is still scarce, because refugees are usually assigned to specific places of residence by the authorities in many European countries. In the context of forced migration, spatial patterns may therefore largely be related to administrative decisions. In this paper, we aim to answer the question of the settlement patterns of recently arrived refugees from Ukraine in Germany by using current data from the Central Register of Foreigners. These patterns are modelled on the NUTS-3 level and consider the proportion of previous Ukrainian migrants living within those regions as well as additional economic, demographic, and geographical factors. Spatial regression models show that, on the one hand, Ukrainian refugees indeed settle where the number of Ukrainians is already high. The empirical analyses also indicate a correlation between the spatial patterns of refugees in general and Ukrainian refugees, suggesting that dispersal policies may play a role in explaining settlement patterns. Furthermore, affordable housing and lower rents are important explanatory variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]