Inhaltsbereich: Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung
Methodology and Data Access
Research perspectives
The research work of IAB is geared to the need for information and advice on the part of both political decisions-makers and the public at large; it sees itself as part of academic and scientific discussion. However, if IAB is to be both competitive and its advice well received in such processes, it needs – along with work that is theoretically underpinned – firstly, a stamp of quality for its empirical research, secondly, high methodologically-sound expertise that corresponds to the state-of-the-art in research and, thirdly, broad and well-regulated access to data for all interested researchers. What is also important is an open and reliable way of dealing with the data of individual persons stemming from the day-to-day activities of the Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit) and from research activities. Such requirements cannot be fulfilled by the Research Departments alone; hence expert know-how is pooled at the Statistical Methods Research Unit (Kompetenzzentrum Empirische Methoden, KEM) and the Research Data Centre (Forschungsdatenzentrum, FDZ), channelled back to the Research Departments using the advantages of specialization and then passed on to external researchers.
In the Research Area "Methodology and Data Access" (Methoden und Datenzugang) the notions of research and service are particularly closely interlocked. As becomes obvious from numerous top-grade publications, our researchers carry out their own studies on the following topics: gender wage differentials; reduction in wage through moving from one establishment to the other after training; effects of employment protection legislation or of fixed collective wage agreements; and the factors that determine the course of careers. Joint projects, meetings for the purpose of discussion, workshops and conferences mean that findings are disseminated widely and intensively both amongst other Research Departments at IAB and throughout the scientific community as a whole.
Staff Units