The Happy Migrant? Emigration and its Impact on Subjective Well-Being

The chapter asks about possible causal effects of migration on subjective well-being (SWB) measured by self-reported overall life satisfaction. By combining the emigration sample of the German Emigration and Remigration Panel Study (GERPS) with a quasi-counterfactual sample of internationally non-mobile Germans provided by the Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) the difference-in-difference analyses show that emigration is actually accompanied by an increase in SWB. Based on propensity score matching procedures and compared to non-mobile German stayers, German first-time emigrants show a significant increase in SWB shortly after arrival in their host country. For most emigrants, migration pays off not only economically via increasing incomes but also with regard to an increase in life satisfaction. However, the underlying analysis has certain limitations and we therefore discuss the significance of the presented evidence and consequences and challenges for future research.

Out of Sight, out of Mind? Frequency of Emigrants’ Contact with Friends in Germany and its Impact on Subjective Well-Being

Migration implies both benefits and costs. The latter include a possible breakdown of social networks, and thus a loss of social capital. Although there is some literature on the evolution of family networks after migration, not as much is known about friendship. This article assesses the quality of friendships between German emigrants and their friends who stayed in Germany. In particular, it asks three research questions: (a) How does the quality of relationships with friends in Germany differ from the quality of other relationships after migration? (b) How is friendship quality after migration related to socio-demographic or socio-economic factors? And (c) is there a link between friendship quality and the subjective well-being of emigrants? Results indicate that friendship quality measured as frequency of contact with friends falls in the middle range of contact frequency, as emigrants typically have more contact with partners and children, but less contact with some other relatives, compared to close friends. Furthermore, several determinants of contact frequency (e.g. gender, age, length of stay and household constellation) can be identified and correlations with various aspects of subjective well-being were found.

Is There More Than the Answer to the Question? Device Use and Completion Time as Indicators for Selectivity Bias and Response Convenience in Online Surveys

The main objective of the German Emigration and Remigration Panel Study (GERPS) is to establish a longitudinal data set that provides information on life trajectories of international migrants. However, a large amount of paradata were also collected in order to obtain meta-information on respondents’ survey participation. This auxiliary information can help to optimize data quality at all stages of the survey process. By continuing the existing discussion in the field of online surveys, this chapter pursues a twofold objective: it reflects device usage (mobile vs. computer) and elucidates determinants of device choice. In particular, it analyses whether selectivity effects due to respondent’s device choices bias the sample. Moreover, this chapter investigates differences in response time between devices to detect differences in response burden. The analysis of response burden differences by device is an important issue, since an increased device-specific response burden can be a predictor of actual and further panel dropouts. In both device-specific selectivity and survey burden, only slight differences were found between mobile and desktop devices. Using these data, the following paper addresses the need to analyse potential sources of survey error and provides evidence that GERPS data do not appear to contain noteworthy bias attributed to device usage.

Between Origin and Destination: German Migrants and the Individual Consequences of Their Global Lives

During the twentieth century, international migration was mainly understood as immigration into economically highly developed welfare states. This has changed over the course of recent decades because these countries are meanwhile also understood as important sources of international mobility. Whereas international mobility experiences have potentially far-reaching consequences for social inequalities and life chances, migration studies have only little experience in analysing international migration from those economically highly developed welfare states. This introduction frames the chapters in this volume that contribute to fill this gap by examining the individual consequences of global lives not only as a question of migrants’ integration into receiving societies (destination). Rather, the consequences of international mobility are also studied by comparing migrants with the non-mobile population of the country of origin (origin) and as results of specific trajectories (migration) in individual life courses during the migration process (Destination-Origin-Migration Approach). The introduction also provides an overview of how this approach is utilised by the different chapters of the book, all based on the German Emigration and Remigration Panel Study (GERPS), which provides a comprehensive empirical basis for studying the consequences of international migration along four dimensions of the life course: employment and social mobility, partner and family, wellbeing and health, as well as friends and social integration.

Migration Motives, Timing, and Outcomes of Internationally Mobile Couples

This chapter presents analyses of data from the first wave of the German Emigration and Remigration Panel Study (GERPS) to explore the role of gender differences in migration motives, patterns, and outcomes in recently emigrated or remigrated couples. The results show that emigration of couples follows a traditional gender pattern with leading men and trailing women. However, we also found important evidence that remigration patterns do not follow these traditional gender norms. The decision towards and the timing of remigration within couples is led by women independent of age, education, migration experience, migration motives, and personality traits. Turning to migration outcomes, we find evidence for at least some psychological burden for women. When women are the trailing partner with respect to emigration or remigration decisions, they report a decrease in overall life satisfaction as well as an increase in perceived social isolation after migration. However, under some circumstances men also suffer psychologically. Specifically, men who have remigrated in advance of their female partners report lower life satisfaction and higher perceived isolation.

Sense of Belonging: Predictors for Host Country Attachment Among Emigrants

German citizens usually leave their home country voluntarily and face fewer barriers, e.g. in terms of freedom of travel or labour market integration. However, when arriving in their host country, they are confronted with the need to adapt to life in a new society. Analysing data from the German Emigration and Remigration Panel Study, we found that half of the emigrants developed a sense of belonging to their new host society. Moreover, we set out to examine this development of host country attachment. Guided by findings from acculturation and expatriate attachment research, we identified factors potentially contributing to host country attachment and tested these in a series of regression models. Permanence of the intended stay is the strongest predictor, and social integration also plays an important role. Host country language competence is also important for the identification processes. Regarding cultural distance, our findings suggest an inverted U-shaped relationship with certain cultural novelty facilitating the development of host country belonging. Moreover, the data point to a complex relationship between cultural characteristics of the target country and factors related to an emotional settlement.

Social Origins of German Emigrants: Maintaining Social Status Through International Mobility?

The prospect of upward social mobility is a central motive for international migration. Curiously, the nexus of spatial and social mobility attracted attention only relatively late and existing research on intergenerational social mobility usually concentrates on the constellation within the nation state. This chapter expands on this literature by investigating the intergenerational social mobility of international German migrants from the perspective of the country of origin. First, we focus on the social origin of internationally mobile and non-mobile persons using data from the German Emigration and Remigration Panel Study (GERPS) and the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). How do the two groups differ in their social background? What kinds of capitals do international migrants inherit from their parents? In a second step, this chapter explores the differences in social fluidity between migrants and non-migrants. Does international mobility increase social fluidity? Our findings suggest that German emigrants are positively selected in terms of their social origin. Their parents are more likely to have academic degrees and to belong to the upper service classes compared with non-migrants. Although social fluidity is not significantly higher among emigrants compared with non-migrants, their risk of downward social mobility is significantly reduced.

Affluent Lives Beyond the Border? Individual Wage Change Through Migration

This chapter investigates individual wage changes of German emigrants. The analytical strategy is twofold. First, we compare hourly wage changes among emigrants with wage changes among stayers. We estimate the Difference-in-Difference of mean net hourly wages between stayers and emigrants over time and account for the positive selection of emigrants on observable characteristics through entropy balancing. Second, we explore the heterogeneity of wage changes among emigrants. To that end, we calculate linear regressions on the log net hourly wage change through migration. The first analysis suggests substantial wage increases of 8 euros through migration. The second analysis provides evidence that characteristics of employment and of destination countries account for differences in the wage change among emigrants. Among individual characteristics, only age is negatively correlated, while education and gender do not account for differences. Our analysis rely on the first wave of the German Emigration and Remigration Panel Study. The German Socio-Economic Panel Study yields our reference population of stayers.

Setting up Probability-Based Online Panels of Migrants with a Push-to-Web Approach: Lessons Learned from the German Emigration and Remigration Panel Study (GERPS)

We address two major challenges in setting up probability-based online panels of migrants, using the German Emigration and Remigration Panel Study (GERPS) as an example. The first challenge is potential spatial and social selectivity in unit response when using push-to-web recruitment. To address the first challenge, we draw on a split ballot experiment with return migrants in wave 1 of GERPS. The related analysis uses population register data and geo data. We use logistic regressions to compare unit nonresponse between a push-to-web-only control group (n = 5999) and two sub-samples (each n = 1000) with optional paper and pencil interviews (PAPI). The second challenge is panel attrition. To address the second challenge, we investigate the role of individual-level and survey-related factors for panel consent. The regression analysis uses GERPS data of first-wave respondents, estimating panel consent rates for responding remigrants in general (n = 6395) and in the experiment sample (n = 2130). We find that the provision of an optional paper questionnaire marginally increases the likelihood of response. The positive correlation of PAPI and response rate, however, is counterbalanced by a negative correlation with the likelihood of panel consent. This suggests a trade-off scenario to the detriment of either response rates or panel participation rates.

Structures of German Emigration and Remigration: Historical Developments and Demographic Patterns

Germany today is one of the world’s most important countries of immigration but at the same time a country of emigration. During the last three decades, more than 3.3 million German citizens have left the country whereas 2.5 million have returned. Overall, 3.8 million Germans live outside Germany in another country of the OECD. The chapter analyses basic structures of German emigration and remigration. Germany’s development as a country of emigration includes major historical predecessors but also a more recent, slowly increasing level of international mobility of the German population. The geographical pattern of departure from Germany describes emigration as a heterogeneous phenomenon related to urban regions with higher shares of well-qualified people, but also close spatial links, at least with the neighbouring countries in the south and the west. In the long term, Europe has stabilised as the major destination region whereas the Americas, overall, have lost their attraction compared to earlier periods of emigration. Demographically, international mobility is a phenomenon of the younger population in particular and closely related to other transitions within the life course including changes in relationship status. The motives of migration illustrate the close link between economic, but also partnership and family-related reasons to help us understand Germany’s recent experiences with international mobility.