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This paper explores the empirical relationship between local economic conditions, social capital, and individual characteristics on the one hand and satisfaction with democracy on the other hand, using detailed information from the German Socio-Economic Panel. In contrast to previous literature, we focus on economic conditions at the state level instead of the national one. We find that local economic conditions, proxies of social capital, and individual characteristics (e.g., risk attitude, reciprocity, past unemployment experience) are important correlates of satisfaction with democracy and that some heterogeneity between genders, West and East Germany, and people with and without college degree exists in the data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On average, temporary jobs are far less stable than permanent jobs. This higher instability could potentially lower workers' incentives to relocate towards the workplace, thereby resulting in longer commutes. However, surprisingly few studies have investigated the link between temporary employment and commuting length. Building on the notion that individuals strive to optimize their utility when deciding where to work and live, we develop and test a theoretical framework that predicts commuting outcomes for different types of temporary workers – fixed-term, casual and temporary agency workers – and in different institutional contexts. We estimate fixed-effects regression models using 17 waves of data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey and the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). As expected, the results show that the link between temporary employment and commuting length varies by employment type and institutional context. Agency work is associated with longer commutes than permanent work in both countries, whereas this applies to fixed-term contracts for Germany only. For casual work, the findings suggest no commuting length differential to permanent employment. In terms of policy, our findings suggest lengthy commuting can be a side effect of flexible labour markets, with potentially negative implications for worker well-being, transportation management and the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We carry out a difference-in-differences analysis of a real-time survey conducted as part of the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) survey and show that teleworking had a negative average effect on life satisfaction over the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic. This average effect hides considerable heterogeneity, reflecting gender-role asymmetries: lower life satisfaction is found only for unmarried men and for women with school-age children. The negative effect for women with school-age children disappears in 2021, suggesting adaptation to new constraints and/or the adoption of coping strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While previous research has focused on terrorist attacks and natives' attitudes towards immigration, we examine the effect of anti-refugee attacks on refugees' attitude towards the host country. We use survey data from the 33rd wave of the German Socio-Economic Panel as the fieldwork period overlapped with the infamous anti-refugee riots in Bautzen and as the survey includes a refugee sample. Making use of this natural experiment, we find significant and negative short-term effects of the riots on respondents' perception of Germany, as well as low geographic variation. Such natural experiments in the form of unexpected events during survey design offer social scientists the possibilities to identify causal effects from observational survey data as they split respondents into a control and treatment group. Given the vast amount of (cross-)national survey data, often including specific subsamples, our study demonstrates the great potential of natural experiments for sociological research on minority groups in society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The initial year after parental death is a critical period for grief and coping. Despite its significance for declines in and recovery of adult mental health, this initial period is not sufficiently captured in existing research following changes across annual or even broader intervals. This paper assesses the impact of the first and second parent’s death on adult mental health on more fine-grained monthly timescales. Using data from up to 12 waves of the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (GSOEP) and fixed-effects models with yearly and monthly impact functions, the analysis yielded two main findings. First, mental health declines were much deeper when measured on a monthly scale. The magnitude of drops recorded within the first two months following parental death approximately doubled those measured at an annual scale. Second, recovery occurred much faster when recorded on a monthly timescale and was evident already a few months after the loss of a parent. Overall, this study suggests that reaction and adaptation to parental death are stronger and faster than previously documented. The study additionally identified variations in mental health responses. Those who lost their first parent had worse mental health a year after the event compared to those who lost their second parent. The most significant decline in mental health, around 10 points, occurred among daughters one to two months after their mother's death. When the mother died first, the impact was more severe on mental health, especially among younger daughters and sons.

Abstract The paper investigates migrant–nonmigrant differentials over time among women in Germany after their first childbirth; we look at the transitions to paid work or to a second child. Our observation period covers almost 30 years, in which family policies changed substantially. Most notably, the year 2007 marked a shift in (West) Germany’s parental leave policy from a conservative family model to a policy directed toward fostering work and family reconciliation. Across these policy periods, we investigate whether population subgroups, i.e., first-generation migrants and migrant descendants, show different patterns in their transitions after the first childbirth compared to the non-migrant majority population. We use data of the German Socio-economic Panel Study (GSOEP). Our sample consists of 3555 mothers of one child, about 13% of whom are first-generation migrants and 16% are migrant descendants. We estimate event-history models: using competing risks analyses, we study transitions following the first birth, specifically, (re)entering work and having a second child. We find that the transition (back) to work increased significantly from one policy period to the next among non-migrants. Increases among migrants varied between the migrant generations, were smaller and occurred later. Hence, we find an increasing gap between first-generation migrants and non-migrants across policy periods, with migrant descendants in between. To some extent, the migrant–nonmigrant gap traces back to different compositional and institutional effects and varies across origin groups. By contrast, the transition rates to a second child decreased among non-migrants, but hardly varied across periods among migrants. Thus, our results demonstrate increasing differentials between societal groups in their work-family reconciliation behavior, to which the modern parental leave policies may have contributed. We discuss the implications of these results for researchers, society and policymakers.

The lack of women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) careers is a multifaceted problem, and there may be various levers for change (e.g., managers' attitudes). Whereas most previous studies have focused on educational aspects, we targeted later career stages: We measured managers' gender role attitudes because managers can be a source of support or discrimination. In fact, women in STEM fields report less support and more discrimination than STEM men or non-STEM women do. Using a large and representative data set from the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) in Germany, we compared traditional gender role attitudes in STEM versus non-STEM fields with ordered probit regressions and a multiverse analysis. We found that male, older, non-managerial, and non-STEM employees had more traditional gender role attitudes than others. Additionally, we found a gender gap: For men, older employees had more traditional gender role attitudes; for women, age did not matter, but female managers had less traditional gender role attitudes than nonmanagers. Reasons for this trend might be selection (e.g., women with traditional attitudes might abandon their careers earlier) or socialisation (e.g., female managers' attitudes may change in male-dominated environments). Implications for women's careers are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates migrant–nonmigrant differentials over time among women in Germany after their first childbirth; we look at the transitions to paid work or to a second child. Our observation period covers almost 30 years, in which family policies changed substantially. Most notably, the year 2007 marked a shift in (West) Germany's parental leave policy from a conservative family model to a policy directed toward fostering work and family reconciliation. Across these policy periods, we investigate whether population subgroups, i.e., first-generation migrants and migrant descendants, show different patterns in their transitions after the first childbirth compared to the non-migrant majority population. We use data of the German Socio-economic Panel Study (GSOEP). Our sample consists of 3555 mothers of one child, about 13% of whom are first-generation migrants and 16% are migrant descendants. We estimate event-history models: using competing risks analyses, we study transitions following the first birth, specifically, (re)entering work and having a second child. We find that the transition (back) to work increased significantly from one policy period to the next among non-migrants. Increases among migrants varied between the migrant generations, were smaller and occurred later. Hence, we find an increasing gap between first-generation migrants and non-migrants across policy periods, with migrant descendants in between. To some extent, the migrant–nonmigrant gap traces back to different compositional and institutional effects and varies across origin groups. By contrast, the transition rates to a second child decreased among non-migrants, but hardly varied across periods among migrants. Thus, our results demonstrate increasing differentials between societal groups in their work-family reconciliation behavior, to which the modern parental leave policies may have contributed. We discuss the implications of these results for researchers, society and policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Risk attitudes are important predictors of various economic decisions and socioeconomic outcomes. Although studies show that peoples' general willingness to take risks decreases with age, there are few reports on the age dependence of domain-specific risk attitudes. Drawing on the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), this study employs a proxy variable approach to disentangle age from periodic and cohort effects, while allowing the age effect to take a flexible functional form. Our analyses indicate that risk attitudes are domain-specific. Additionally, we show that age-profiles of general rather than domain-specific risk attitudes can lead to misleading results when they are used to predict life outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior research has suggested three explanations why levels of voluntary engagement rise and fall over time within societies. A social structural explanation considers individual resources crucial for engagement and argues that a redistribution of those resources may bring about changes in engagement. A cohort-based explanation considers socialisation and experiences in formative years as crucial for the uptake of engagement. Finally, a period-based explanation considers extraordinary events, external shocks, and crises to be crucial for engagement. So far, these explanations have mainly been tested separately and little is known about the relative strength of each of the proposed factors. Using data from a large German household panel survey that assessed engagement almost annually across four decades, we found that most social structural factors (e.g., education, employment, income) maintained their predictive effects for engagement, irrespective of cohort or period. The only notable exception was that the gender gap observed has narrowed substantially across periods and cohorts. Moreover, cohort effects were rendered almost negligible once we factored in periods. Taken together, our results suggest that individual characteristics and extraordinary events are the main factors influencing voluntary engagement rather than shared societal experiences of cohorts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In recent years, researchers have grappled with the phenomenon that public demand for redistribution has not systematically increased in response to rising inequality. Meritocratic beliefs have been suggested as an explanation for this observation, because they can help legitimize inequalities. Past research has identified local-level inequality, segregation, or diversity as important factors for how these beliefs might be formed and maintained. Different theoretical approaches have been advanced and tested to determine the direction and extent of these effects, producing mixed results. We put these theories to the test by focusing on a country in which changes in the level of inequality have indeed been met with equal changes in justice perceptions: Germany. Furthermore, we broaden the scope by focusing on local segregation between different socioeconomic status groups, rather than income inequality. To do so, we utilize geocoded individual-level data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), microm data, and relevant geospatial indicators from the INKAR database. We find some indication that residential segregation of status groups and isolation of high status groups is associated with less support of meritocratic beliefs, contradicting previous work. Additionally, we find evidence of urban–rural differences in the effects of segregation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The IAB’s Sample of Integrated Labour Market Biographies (SIAB) and the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) are the two data sets most commonly used to analyze wage inequality in Germany. While the SIAB is based on administrative reports by employers to the social security system, the SOEP is a survey data set in which respondents self-report their wages. Both data sources have their specific advantages and disadvantages. The objective of this study is to describe and compare the evolution of wage inequality for these two types of data. For this purpose, different sample restrictions are applied. The comparison without any harmonization of the data shows different levels and trends. When the information is largely harmonized, comparable trends and similar levels emerge.

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This paper provides one of the first tests of adaptation to the complete set of residential transitions. We use long-run SOEP panel data and consider the impact of all housing transitions, whether or not they involve a change in housing tenure or geographical movement, on both life satisfaction and housing satisfaction. Controlling for individual characteristics, some residential transitions affect life satisfaction only little, while all transitions have a significant effect on housing satisfaction. This latter is particularly large for renters who become homeowners and move geographically, and for renters who move without changing tenure status. Regarding housing satisfaction, we only uncover evidence of some adaptation for renter-renter moves. Losing homeowner status is the only transition that produces lower housing satisfaction, and here the effect seems to become even more negative over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus, spread across Germany within just a short period of time. Seroepidemiological studies are able to estimate the proportion of the population with antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 infection (seroprevalence) as well as the level of undetected infections, which are not captured in official figures. In the seroepidemiological study Corona Monitoring Nationwide (RKI-SOEP-2), biospecimens and interview data were collected in a nationwide population-based subsample of the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). By using laboratory-analyzed blood samples to detect antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, we were able to identify a history of vaccination or infection in study participants. By combining these results with survey data, we were able to identify groups within the population that are at increased risk of infection. By linking the RKI-SOEP-2 survey data with data from other waves of the SOEP survey, we will be able to examine the medium- to long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, including effects of long COVID, in diverse areas of life. Furthermore, the data provide insight into the population's willingness to be vaccinated as well as related attitudes and conditions. In sum, the RKI-SOEP-2 survey data offer a better understanding of the scope of the epidemic in Germany and can help in identifying target groups for infection control in the present and future pandemics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A representative survey from August 2022 confirms public support for a universal basic income (UBI): Between 45 and 55 percent of respondents are in favor of a universal basic income and the unconditional financial security it promises. Two representative surveys from August 2022 investigate who exactly UBI supporters are and which UBI model they prefer. The surveys show that younger people in particular as well as low-income earners and people with serious concerns about their own economic situation support a UBI. One of the surveys analyzed in this Weekly Report shows that most respondents support an unconditional UBI of 1,200 euros that is financed via higher income and wealth taxes on the rich. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The IAB's Sample of Integrated Labour Market Biographies (SIAB) and the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) are the two data sets most commonly used to analyze wage inequality in Germany. While the SIAB is based on administrative reports by employers to the social security system, the SOEP is a survey data set in which respondents self-report their wages. Both data sources have their specific advantages and disadvantages. The objective of this study is to describe and compare the evolution of wage inequality for these two types of data. For this purpose, different sample restrictions are applied. The comparison without any harmonization of the data shows different levels and trends. When the information is largely harmonized, comparable trends and similar levels emerge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there are many quantitative studies examining the determinants of ethnic violence from the perspective of offenders, less is known about the effects of violence on the victims or target groups. In light of the increased refugee migration in Germany in 2015/2016, we provide empirical evidence that living in districts with a past of ethnic violence against refugees affects refugees' perception of the host country negatively. We are using survey data from the German Socio-Economic Panel which we matched with data on ethnic violence. Albeit refugees had positive attitudes towards Germany – they felt overwhelmingly welcome, safe, and were barely worried about xenophobia – they were considerably less likely to feel this positive in districts with a high accumulated share of arson attacks on refugee homes. As living in contexts with higher levels of past and present ethnic violence can influence refugees' attitudes, this has implications for integration processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Food banks are returning to the spotlight as their use increases due to the coronavirus pandemic and the influx of Ukrainian refugees to Germany. The current discussion is focused on whether the food banks can handle the increasing number of users as well as the financial and organizational challenges that come with them. Until now, however, no robust, empirical data on food bank use has been available. Using Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) data, this Weekly Report presents new findings and analyses on the number of food bank users and their socio-demographic distribution. According to the SOEP data, about 1.1 million people used food banks in the first half of 2020. A large share of users are women, people with a migration background, divorced or separated people, and the unemployed; additionally, one fourth of those who benefit from food banks are children. Food bank users also tend to be in poor health. As expected, they also have a below average net household income and accordingly, over two thirds of them are at risk of poverty. The structural causes of poverty must be addressed to ensure that food banks do not reach their limit. Increasing the standard rate for welfare benefits and providing targeted support measures for job seekers could lessen dependency on food banks. Food banks should also be professionalized, as is currently under discussion, and increasingly take on a pilot function for other support measures in the social security system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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We investigate the link between personality traits (PTs) and fertility, accounting for the possible interplay with other key life course events. Using data from German Socio‐Economic Panel survey, we build sequence‐type representations of fertility, union and job careers between the ages of 20 and 40. We rely on multichannel sequence analysis (MSA) and on the Partitioning around Medoids algorithm to cluster individuals with similar experiences, and relate clusters to PTs via multinomial regression. We also develop a procedure to apply standard and MSA to truncated trajectories. This enables inclusion of individuals whose trajectories were otherwise observed for a limited age span, notably belonging to younger cohorts. We show that PTs relate to these (portions of) life‐course trajectories, of which fertility is only one outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel for 1984–2018, we analyze the intergenerational education mobility of immigrants in Germany by identifying the determinants of differences in educational stocks for first- and second-generation immigrants in comparison to individuals without a migration background. Our results show that on average, first-generation immigrants have fewer years of schooling than native-born Germans and have a disproportionate share of lower educational qualifications. This gap is strongly driven by age at immigration, with immigration age and education revealing a nonlinear relationship. While the gap is relatively small among individuals who migrate at a young age, integrating in the school system at secondary school age leads to large disadvantages. Examining the educational mobility of immigrants in Germany, we identify an inter-generational catch-up in education. The gap in education between immigrants and natives is reduced for the second generation. Finally, we find that country of origin differences can account for much of the education gap. While immigrants with an ethnic background closer to the German language and culture show the best education outcomes, immigrants from Turkey, Italy, and other southern European countries and especially the group of war refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and other MENA countries, have the lowest educational attainment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is an empirical investigation into life satisfaction, using nationally representative German panel data. The study confirms with modern econometric techniques the previously found substantial association with an individual's thoughts about the future, whether they are optimistic or pessimistic about it, with life satisfaction. In addition, the investigation demonstrates that the association holds when some possibly anticipated events (like, for example, divorce and unemployment) are controlled for. Furthermore, including individuals' optimism and pessimism about the future substantially increases the explanatory power of standard life satisfaction models. The effect size is greater for individuals who report being pessimistic than that for well-understood negative events like unemployment. These effects are attenuated though do remain substantial after controlling for the following: individual fixed effects; statistically matching on observable variables between optimistic and pessimistic individuals; and addressing the potential endogeneity of optimism and pessimism to life satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study how the onset of disability affects both sleep satisfaction and sleep time on workdays and weekends. Using longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel for the period 2008–2017, we run fixed-effects models on sleep satisfaction and duration test whether individuals sleep adapts to disability (i.e. their degree of anticipation and adaptation to its onset). We find that people with disabilities report lower sleep satisfaction scores, and shorter sleep time both on workdays (except for males) and weekends compared to people without disabilities. Although we dont find evidence of anticipation effects, we find that sleep outcomes ambiguously worsen with disability. The adaptation to disability in terms of sleep satisfaction is longer for females than males (5 versus 4 years, respectively). These findings suggest that poor sleep among people with disabilities may explain their worst health outcomes, recovery, rehabilitation, and overall quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The worldwide prevalence of mental health problems has increased noticeably over the last three decades, with approximately 20 percent of adolescents suffering from either mental health or behavioural problems. As it is well known that positive and negative emotions are major influences on mental health, psychological well-being is a particularly crucial component of mental health. The present study investigates the role of intergenerational transmission in the development of psychological well-being in adolescents. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP), OLS linear regression models were estimated for 2,794 adolescents and their parents, while taking into account whether the assumed relation depends on the gender constellations of parents and their children. The results of the statistical analysis provided moderate evidence for the intergenerational transmission of psychological well-being, especially with respect to parents' and adolescents' negative affect. However, no significant differences between same-sex and opposite-sex parent-child dyads could be found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the project SOEP-RV is to link data from participants in the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) survey to their individual Deutsche Rentenversicherung (German Pension Insurance) records. For all SOEP respondents who give explicit consent to record linkage, SOEP-RV creates a linked dataset that combines the comprehensive multi-topic SOEP data with detailed cross-sectional and longitudinal data on social security pension records covering the individual's entire insurance history. This article provides an overview of the record linkage project, highlights potentials for analysis of the linked data, compares key SOEP and pension insurance variables, and suggests a re-weighting procedure that corrects for selectivity. It concludes with details on the process of obtaining the data for scientific use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a mixed methods approach, this article analyses the nexus between migration and social positions drawing on recent survey data on migrants who have arrived in Germany after 1994 from the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), as well as qualitative interviews with 26 respondents to the survey. Drawing on a Bourdieusian forms of capital approach (Bourdieu, 1986) and applying the method of Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) to the SOEP survey data, we highlight two dimensions structuring the nexus between migration and social positions in Germany: (1) capital related to legal status and multiple migration and (2) (trans)national cultural capital. Through a cluster analysis based on the MCA results, we then identify and describe four profiles of migrants characterised by distinct configurations of cultural capital (social class background, education and linguistic skills before and after settlement), legal status (citizenship and status at migration), experiences of multiple cross-border movements and social positions: the ‘foreign working-class,’ the ‘foreign middle class,’ the ‘adapted German migrants,’ and the ‘young highly educated urbans.’ The complementary analysis of the qualitative data allows us to go further in understanding some of the factors that may play a role in shaping migrants’ social position(ing) in the four clusters. In particular, we show that resources such as determination and perseverance can be crucial for some migrants to counter structural constraints related to their legal status in transferring or accessing cultural capital, and that linguistic skills are also used by some migrants as a marker of social distinction.

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Are parent-couples with equal income more satisfied as their children grow up, than those who prioritize the father's career (specialize)? For the first time, 384 German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) study couples were categorized into life-course coupled earnings types, by tracing how earnings were divided within couples between the ages of 1 to 15 of their youngest child. Multivariate, multilevel analysis showed that, unlike mothers pursuing an (eventually) equal earnings division, mothers in an (eventually) specialized arrangement experienced a strong decline in life satisfaction. Hence, particularly high-status mothers (having invested heavily into their career) were eventually up to two life satisfaction points less satisfied if they prioritized their partner's earnings, than those who shared earnings equally with their partner. Paternal life satisfaction was not significantly different between patterns of earnings (in)equality. For most couples, earnings equality led to a win-win situation: mothers' life satisfaction was higher than for specialized mothers without negatively affecting paternal satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While providing equal opportunities to all members of society independent of an individual's socio-economic background is a major objective of German policy makers, educational opportunities of children with a non-academic family background are still unequally obstructed. When analysing the labour market implications of this disadvantage, social capital as an additional source of inequality often lacks attention. Drawing on the instrumental value of rather loose contacts (i.e. weak ties) on the labour market as revealed by Granovetter (Getting a job. A study of contacts and careers, The University of Chicago Press, Cambridge, 1974), this paper goes beyond the human capital approach and includes a measure of instrumental social capital in the form of weak-tie career support in the earnings function. Applying an Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition and quantile regressions, we find a significant average wage gap between those with and without an academic family background. A large part can be explained by deficits that those from less educated families incur with respect to human and instrumental social capital: Lower educational attainment accounts for more than half of the wage gap between the two groups while fewer career support explains around five percent of the differential. Additionally, a non-academic family background is associated with a significant deficit in returns to their instrumental social capital along the wage distribution. The findings therefore suggest that inequalities of opportunity on the German labour market occur beyond the education system, as not only the quantity but also the quality of career supporting networks of those from a non-academic family are inferior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering both non-migrant and migrant couples, this paper studies the effect of cohabiting life partners' attitudes, resources, and social network compositions on their spouse's interethnic friendships and acquaintances. Thus, partners are conceptualized as important "third parties" for interethnic relationship formation. Analysing representative German household panel data, I find that partner characteristics play an important role for a person's interethnic relationships. In particular, a strong positive connection between cohabiting life partners' interethnic relationships indicates that couples' social networks merge over time. Partner's preferences for interethnic contacts mainly exert an indirect influence that is mediated by the partner's own interethnic relationships and – to some extent – by a person's preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unemployment is a major challenge to individuals development. An important personal resource to ameliorate the negative impact of unemployment may be perceived control, a general-purpose belief system. Little is known, however, about how perceived control itself changes with the experience of unemployment and what the antecedents, correlates, and consequences of such change in perceived control are in different ages. We use data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (N = 413 who experienced unemployment and N = 413 case-matched controls; time period of data collection: 1994 - 1996) to examine whether perceived control changes with unemployment, explore the role of socio-demographic, psychosocial and health factors in moderating such change, and investigate whether levels of perceived control prior to unemployment and unemployment-related change in perceived control predict unemployment-related outcomes up to five years following. Results indicated that, on average, perceived control remained relatively stable with unemployment, and that younger and older workers did not differ in this regard. However, there were sizeable individual differences in change in perceived control, with women and those with fewer years of education experiencing greater unemployment-related declines in perceived control. Lower levels of perceived control prior to unemployment and steeper unemployment-related decrements in perceived control were each associated with a higher risk of remaining unemployed in the 12 months immediately following unemployment. Steeper unemployment-related declines in perceived control also predicted lower life satisfaction up to five years following. We discuss possible pathways by which perceived control may facilitate adjustment to unemployment, consider the role of perceived control for better understanding the dynamics of unemployment, and suggest routes for further more process-oriented inquiry.

This paper asks whether marriage decisions of unmarried mature couples are driven by the prospect of financial advantages for the later widowed after one partner has suffered a serious health shock. We hypothesize that, in contrast to traditional marriage models, such health shocks may induce unmarried couples to obtain economic benefits, such as survivors' pensions in particular, through marriage in advance of one partner's death. This question has not yet been studied empirically. Hazard models capturing unobserved effects are applied to longitudinal data of the German Socioeconomic Panel. It turns out that the probability of marriage after male partners' health shocks can increase significantly depending on the amount of expected survivors' pensions for the (likely) surviving female partners. In contrast, an increased probability of marriage after health shocks to women (depending on the expected financial benefits to men) was not found. These findings are supported by various robustness checks. Economic and political implications are discussed and the results are placed in an international context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study provides new evidence on the levels of economic integration experienced by foreigners and naturalised immigrants relative to native Germans from 1994 to 2015. We decompose the wage gap using the method for unconditional quantile regression models by employing a regression of the (recentered) influence function (RIF) of the gross hourly wage on a rich set of explanatory variables. This approach enables us to estimate contributions made across the whole wage distribution. To allow for a detailed characterisation of labour market conditions, we consider a comprehensive set of socio-economic and labour-related aspects capturing influences of, e.g., human capital quality, cultural background, and the personalities of immigrants. The decomposition results clearly indicate a significant growing gap with higher wages for both foreigners (13.6 to 17.6%) and naturalised immigrants (10.0 to 16.4%). The findings further display a low explanation for the wage gap in low wage deciles that is even more pronounced within immigrant subgroups. Cultural and economic distances each correlate strongly with wages. A different appreciation of foreign educational qualifications, however, widens the wage gap substantially by 4.5%points on average. Moreover, we observe an indication of deterioration of immigrants' human capital endowments over time relative to those of native Germans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]