SOEP Wave Report 1-2008. A Quarter Century of Change: Results from the German Socio-Economic Panel

Abstract

This is the first of what, it is hoped, will become an annual series of Wave Reports on the German Socio-Economic Panel Survey Study (SOEP). SOEP has now been running for a quarter of century (1984-2008). Twenty-five waves of data have been collected. So some respondents, about 2,500 middle aged and older people, have kindly agreed to be interviewed twenty-five 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 each of these topics. 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.