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IAB-SOEP Migration Sample

Current Project

Project Management

Sabine Zinn (SOEP), Herbert Brücker (IAB)

Project Period

June 1, 2013 - December 31, 2025

Commissioned by

Federal Ministry for Labor and Social Affairs (BMAS), Federal Employment
Agency (BA), Leibniz Association (WGL)

In Cooperation With

Institute for Employment Research (IAB)

In cooperation with the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) in Nuremberg, the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) has carried out the largest expansion in the number of respondents with a migration background in its 30-year history. Between May and November 2013, around 2,700 households were surveyed, each containing at least one person who had either immigrated to Germany since 1994 or whose parents had done so. The sample was drawn from the IAB “Integrated Employment Biographies” sample, a database comprising all employees, unemployed persons, and participants in government initiatives to promote employment in Germany. All waves of the IAB-SOEP Migration Sample are available for research purposes and secondary analysis since 2014 as part of the SOEP-Core data distribution (since v30), integrated with the other respondents from the core SOEP sample.

The IAB-SOEP Migration Sample is funded by the Federal Labor Ministry and the Federal Employment Agency. The research directors of the project are Herbert Brücker (IAB) and Sabine Zinn (SOEP).

The questionnaire, which is given to all adult household members, includes all core questions from the main SOEP questionnaires. In addition, the questionnaire addresses specific aspects of the respondent’s immigration history, educational degrees obtained in Germany and other countries, employment history, and numerous aspects of individual living environment and cultural contexts that are relevant for the social integration of immigrants.

Certain nationalities are a special focus of the IAB-SOEP Migration Sample. The study contains a higher proportion of households containing migrants from Poland, Romania, the CIS countries, Turkey, the former Yugoslavia, Italy, Spain, and Greece, as well as predominantly Arab or Muslim countries.

More on the data you find on the RDC SOEP sites.

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