Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung

European Labour Market Barometer: The war in Ukraine is dragging down Europe’s economy

The European Labour Market Barometer has continued its downward trend in August. The labour market leading indicator of the European Network of Public Employment Services and the IAB fell by 0.8 points compared to July, but still remains above the neutral mark of 100, standing at 100.9 points. The additional risks posed by a possible escalation of the energy crisis still persist.

European Labour Market Barometer

Cooperation with the Ukrainian Global University

The IAB has signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the initiative "Ukrainian Global University". Within the framework of the cooperation, one scholarship per year is offered for a doctoral student and one for a post-doctoral fellow.

Funded research visits for young scientists at risk from Ukraine

Funded research visits for scientists at risk from Ukraine

Designing short-time work for mass use

In the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, short-time work has once again proven to be an effective instrument to stabilise employment. However, the mass and fluctuating use that this effort entailed encountered an instrument based on individual eligibility. The complete processing of all cases in Germany will take years, with corresponding strains and uncertainties for firms and labour administration.

IAB-Forschungsbericht 10/2022en

Entry conditions and the transition from tertiary education to employment

This paper uses monthly data on tertiary education graduates in 17 European countries covering 2004-2017 to assess the short-run effects of entry conditions on the transition into employment. Using an instrumental variables approach, an increase in the graduation unemployment rate of one percentage point is found to reduce the hazard rate of transitioning from unemployment into employment by 3.6 percent. This effect is stronger for females than males although the difference disappears when analysing transitions from inactivity into employment. 

IAB-Discussion Paper 23/2022

Gender-Specific Application Behavior, Matching, and the Residual Gender Earnings Gap

This paper opens up the black box of gender-specific application and hiring behavior and its implications for the residual gender earnings gap. To understand the underlying mechanisms, we propose a two-stage matching model with testable implications. Using the German IAB Job Vacancy Survey, we show that the patterns in the data are in line with linear and nonlinear production functions at different jobs. 

IAB-Discussion Paper 22/2022

Can the Labor Demand Curve Explain Job Polarization?

In recent decades, many industrialized economies have witnessed a pattern of job polarization. While shifts in labor demand, namely routinization or offshoring, constitute conventional explanations for job polarization, there is little research on whether shifts in labor supply along the labor demand curve may equally result in job polarization. In this study, we assess the impact of labor supply shifts on job polarization.

IAB-Discussion Paper 21/2022

Essential occupations: what are the working conditions like?

During the Covid-19 pandemic, some occupations have ensured basic functions in Germany’s economy and society. Although now recognised as “essential”, these heterogeneous occupations had so far hardly been analysed as a group. New research at the IAB and the European University Institute characterises working conditions in Germany’s essential occupations and finds that most of these jobs have relatively good working conditions. Yet a substantial share of jobs has bad working conditions, and here migrants are overrepresented.

The full article can be found in our Magazine IAB-Forum.

The Costs of Job Displacement over the Business Cycle and Its Sources: Evidence from Germany

We document the sources behind the costs of job loss over the business cycle using administrative data from Germany. Losses in annual earnings aer displacement are large, persistent, and highly cyclical, nearly doubling in size during downturns. A large part of the long-term earnings losses and their cyclicality is driven by declines in wages. Key to these long-lasting wage declines and their cyclicality are changes in employer characteristics, as displaced workers switch to lower-paying firms. Changes in characteristics of workers or displacing firms explain little of the cyclicality, though nonemployment durations correlated with losses in employer effects play a role.

IAB-Discussion Paper 20/2022

Exits from and returns to welfare benefit receipt in Germany: Cumulative disadvantages or a different kettle of fish?

In 2005, Germany introduced the integrated welfare benefit “unemployment benefit II” for needy individuals capable of working and their families. In line with international trends, the benefit system is characterised by a broad definition of eligibility and a focus on labour market integration through activation. The heterogeneous recipient groups comprise not only unemployed individuals but also, e.g. low-wage and part-time workers and recipients with family responsibilities.

IAB-Discussion Paper 18/2022

Regional Structural Change and the Effects of Job Loss

Routine-intensive occupations have been declining in many countries, but how does this affect individual workers’ careers if this decline is particularly severe in their local labor market? This paper uses administrative data from Germany and a matched difference-in-differences approach to show that the individual costs of job loss strongly depend on the task-bias of regional structural change.

IAB-Discussion Paper 17/2022

Call for Papers: Labour markets during and after the COVID-19 pandemic

This year's IAB-LISER conference will take place on the premises of IAB in Nuremberg from 25th to 26th of October. We invite all researchers to submit their work on the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on labour markets and economic policies.

For details, please refer to the full Call for Papers