Lebenslanges Lernen als Standortfaktor?

In the process of occupational changes connected to digitisation, lifelong learning continues to gain in importance. Using microdata from the German microcensus for 2011 and 2016 the article finds that in North Rhine-Westphalia participation in adult education is significantly lower than in other Länder. Most importantly, it is less likely for workers in North Rhine-Westphalia to participate than for workers with a similar qualification and age in Southern and Northern Germany. Among the policy measures designed to meet the challenges of ongoing structural change, encouragement of participation in adult education is therefore a likely step.

LONG-TERM TRENDS IN THE GENDER INCOME GAP WITHIN COUPLES: WEST GERMANY, 1978–2011

Over the past 50 years, women in Western societies have increased their level of education and their participation in the labour market. Nevertheless, they continue to contribute significantly less to a couple’s income than their male partners. Here, we ask how the gender income gap within couples has changed over the past decades and in which groups it has decreased or increased. We synthesize streams of argumentation regarding the sources of changes in the gap into one broad perspective on the changing opportunities available to coupled women to convert their income potential into actual income contributions, and how this relates to the income trends of their male counterparts. Using German Microcensus data, we show that West German women contributed 16.5% to couples’ income in 1978 and had increased their contribution to 30.1% by 2011. Our decompositions reveal that women contributed to this mostly by changes in composition, namely due to being more highly educated and working longer hours. Women contributed very little due to increased income returns. Income trends of non-working women are a notable exception. In contrast, men contributed to the trend with changes in income returns. Their higher education and full-time premiums have been a strong counter to the overall trend.

The temporal dimension of parental employment: Fixed-term contracts, non-standard work schedules and children’s education in Germany

The increasing prevalence of non-standard employment and its adverse consequences are well documented. However, we still know little about how prevalent non-standard employment is amongst parents, and whether its negative consequences are further transmitted to their children. Using data from the German Microcensus, we provide a detailed account of the prevalence of fixed-term employment and non-standard work schedules in households with children in Germany. Second, we examine the extent to which variation in this temporal dimension of parents’ employment is associated with their children’s educational attainment. We find that fixed-term contracts and non-standard work schedules have become a prominent feature of households with children in Germany, reflecting the country’s dualized labor market. In about half of all German households with children in lower secondary education, at least one parent has a short fixed-term contract or regularly works on evenings or Saturdays. Moreover, the educational disadvantage of children in these families is alarmingly high. Depending on the concentration of parental non-standard employment in the household, children of parents with fixed-term contracts or non-standard work schedules have a 5 to 16 percent lower probability of entering the academic educational track than children with parents in standard employment, net of parents’ social class, income and education. Based on these results, we argue that the temporal dimension of parental employment is key to understanding how changing labor markets reshape the opportunity structure for children from disadvantaged parental backgrounds and the intergenerational transmission of inequality.

Selectivity profiles of recently arrived refugees and labour migrants in Germany

Migrant selectivity refers to the idea that immigrants differ in certain characteristics from individuals who stay behind in their country of origin. In this article, we describe the selectivity profiles of recent migrants to Germany with respect to educational attainment, age and sex. We illustrate how refugees differ from labour migrants, and we compare the profiles of Syrian refugees who successfully completed the long journey to Europe to Syrian refugees who settled in neighbouring Lebanon or Jordan. We rely on destination-country data from the IAB-BAMF-GSOEP Survey of Refugees, the Arab Barometer, and the German Microcensus, as well as on a broad range of origin-country data sources. Regarding sex selectivity, males dominate among refugees in Germany, while among economic migrants, sex distributions are more balanced. Relative to their societies of origin, labour migrants are younger than refugees. At the same time, both types of migrants are drawn from the younger segments of their origin populations. In terms of educational attainment, many refugees compare rather poorly with average Germans’ attainment, but well when compared to their origin populations. The educational profiles for labour migrants are mixed. Finally, Syrians who settle in Germany are younger, more likely to be male and relatively better educated than Syrians migrating to Jordan or Lebanon.

Policy reform and fathers’ use of parental leave in Germany: The role of education and workplace characteristics

The introduction of the parental leave benefit scheme in 2007 is widely regarded as a landmark reform that has shifted the German welfare state towards a model that better supports work and family life compatibility. In this article, we investigate whether and how this reform has affected men’s use of parental leave based on data from the German microcensus of 1999–2012. We find that parental leave usage has increased across all educational levels, but the shift has been strongest for university-educated fathers. Public sector employment is beneficial for men’s uptake of leave, while self-employment and temporary work lowers fathers’ chances of taking leave. The parental leave reform has not affected these associations much.

From an Alternative to a Precarious Family Form? The Changing Role of Education in Nonmarital Childbearing in Germany

This paper examines the association of education and family forms based on data of the German microcensus 1996–2012. The investigation shows that highly educated women in western Germany had a higher probability of living in a nonmarital instead of a marital union. With an increase in the share of nonmarital births, the association has reversed. Likewise, the highly educated couples were initially the vanguards of living in nonmarital unions with children, but they are nowadays the least likely to do so. Patterns differ between eastern and western Germany, though.

Immigrant Occupational Composition and the Earnings of Immigrants and Natives in Germany: Sorting or Devaluation?

In this article, the influence of immigrant occupational composition on the earnings of immigrants and natives in Germany is examined. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study and the German Microcensus, several relevant concepts are tested. The notion of quality sorting states that the differences in wages that are associated with the immigrant share within occupations are due only to differences in qualification requirements. Cultural devaluation assumes a negative influence over and above that of quality sorting. The findings indicate that both processes are at work. Additional analyses reveal that the impact of immigrant occupational composition is largely restricted to white-collar occupations, which underlines the importance of considering historical differences between occupation types in classic migration destinations such as Germany.

Income Advantages of Poorly-Qualified Immigrant Minorities. Why School Dropouts of Turkish Origin Earn More in Germany

We investigate an often overlooked implication of the signaling model of statistical discrimination: if immigrant minorities' educational qualifications carry less signaling power, poorly-qualified minority members should experience positive statistical discrimination. We argue that the lower signaling power stems from disadvantages associated with insufficient language skills and lack of supportive parental resources, which prevent minority students from achieving those educational qualifications that would reflect their high motivation and ambition. Yet, if education counts less, so does its lack. Using data from the German Microcensus, we compare log hourly personal income of 1.5th and 2nd generation Spätaussiedler and persons of Turkish origin to that of native Germans. Using (semi-parametric) generalized additive models, we find solid support for our claim that poorly-qualified persons of Turkish origin experience income advantages; they frequently work in jobs for which they are underqualified. Once different frequencies of over- and undereducation are taken into account, no ethnic differences in educational returns remain. Our results extend to other comparable immigrant groups in Germany.

The Labour Supply of Female Engineers in Germany

Recent developments in the German demography will give rise to a shortage in skilled workers in the coming decades. A solution to this problem might involve a higher degree of integration of female engineers in the workforce. Data from the German microcensus 2006 confirm the existence of a hidden reserve of female engineers. Ordered response models are used to show that the labour supply in the engineering sector is mainly determinedby age. In addition, the labour supply of female engineers depends on their number of children, and on the age of the youngest child.

Das Timing der Familiengründung und dessen Folgen für Familien

Little is known about the consequences of the timing of family formation for the living conditions, the civil status, the conduct of life and the well-being of mothers, fathers and their children. This study is based on the DJI Survey AID:A, and the official statistics of the 2007 German Microcensus. The analysis includes considerations about the definition of “early” and “late” parenthood. Results: Living conditions, educational background, marital status and the stability of partnership vary by the timing of the first child. The timing of family formation hardly has an impact on the time that parents spend with their first child nor does it influence their contentment. Zusammenfassung Ausgehend vom lückenhaften Forschungsstand zu den Folgen des Timing von Elternschaft für die Lebenslage, Lebensform, und Lebensführung von Müttern, Vätern und Kindern werden Hypothesen zu diesem Zusammenhang entwickelt und anschließend mit Daten des DJI-Surveys AID:A für die Familiengründungsphase überprüft. Wo möglich, werden die Befunde mit Daten aus dem Mikrozensus 2007 validiert. Der Analyse sind Überlegungen zur Definition von „früher“ und „später“ Elternschaft vorgeschaltet. Die Untersuchung zeigt, dass zentrale Aspekte der sozialen Lage und der Institutionalisierungsgrad der Paarbeziehung mit dem biografischen Zeitpunkt der Familiengründung variieren. Das Zeitbudget für das Kind und die Zufriedenheit der Eltern werden durch den biografischen Zeitpunkt der Familiengründung aber kaum beeinflusst.