Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung

Wage growth and career patterns of German low-wage workers

Using administrative linked employer-employee data from Germany, this paper analyses the real wage growth and career patterns of full-time employed low-wage workers between 2001 and 2006.

IAB-Discussion Paper 1/2012

Regional unemployment disparities in Germany

Disparities in the regional unemployment rates in Germany are more distinct, the smaller the regional level of observation. Furthermore, the adjustment of smaller spatial units to labour market shocks is found to work predominantly through labour mobility and less through the unemployment and the participation rate. The speed of adjustment in the unemployment rate does instead not vary substantially between Federal States and districts. The distribution of regional unemployment rates thereby displays strong persistence and does not show convergence towards the national unemployment rate, but convergence towards the region-specific means. Labour market adjustment mechanisms work efficient as labour demand shocks disappear within only a few years. The estimates additionally show that substantial migration and commuting activities are responsible for this efficiency.

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The immigrant wage gap in Germany

Using employment register data, the study compares the outcomes of male foreign workers from different East and West European countries who entered the German labor market between 1995 and 2000 with those of male German workers.

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Unemployment and occupational mobility at the beginning of employment career in Germany and the UK

The beginning of one's employment career is often associated with phases of unemployment. The author argues that unemployment has different implications for different educational groups as regards future employment careers depending on institutional settings in the UK and Germany. While search and matching models imply that an unemployment phase might be used for an active job search and might therefore result in a better position, human capital and signalling theory predict status losses.

IAB-Discussion Paper 25/2011

Job search via social networks

Using a search theoretical model, the authors analyse the effects of the information flow via social networks (friends, relatives and other personal contacts) by comparing monetary and non-monetary outcomes in obtaining jobs via networks versus formal methods.

IAB-Discussion Paper 23/2011