SOEP Wave Report 2011

Abstract

This is the second of an annual series of Wave Reports on the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP). SOEP has now been running for over a quarter of century (1984-2011). Twenty-eight waves of data have been collected. So some respondents, about 2,500 middle aged and older people, have kindly agreed to be interviewed twenty-eight times. The central theme of SOEP is ‘subjective and economic well-being over the life course’. In practice, this means interviewing about four main topics: family life; wealth, incomes and standard of living; employment and unemployment/joblessness; health and life satisfaction. This report contains short articles with statistical tables covering the diversity of these topics and providing the reader with some insight on applied SOEP research. Our target readers are policy makers and the informed public. The ambitious aim of SOEP, and of the Wave Reports, is to provide on an annual basis a new type of social statistics for Germany; longitudinal panel statistics describing the ways in which people’s lives are changing. In addition - and equally important - the Wave Reports will give a technical summary of the development of the survey and its fieldwork. A significant structural change within the DIW is the fact that SOEP’s long standing director Gert G. Wagner was appointed Chairman of the Executive Board of the entire DIW Berlin in January 2011 due to the unexpected resignation of DIW’s president Klaus F. Zimmermann. Gert G. Wagner will remain his new Chairman position through the end of 2012. Joachim R. Frick and I were appointed interim directors of the SOEP. Sadly, Joachim was faced with a substantial health threat by the end of 2010 and passed away in December 2011. He will be in our hearts forever and we dedicate this Wave Report to him.