Publikationen mit SOEP-Daten: SOEPlit

Low-wage Jobs — Springboard to High-paid Ones?

We examine whether low-paid jobs have an effect on the probability that unemployed persons obtain better-paid jobs in the future (springboard effect). We make use of data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) and apply a dynamic random effects bivariate probit model. Our results suggest that low-wage jobs can act as springboards to better-paid work. The improvement of the chance to obtain a high-wage ...

Minimum Wages and their Alternatives: A Critical Assessment

Wie zufrieden macht die Arbeit? Eine neue Quantifizierung der nicht-pekuniären Kosten der Arbeitslosigkeit

Income, happiness, and the disutility of labour

We re-examine the claim that the income effect on happiness is downward biased because higher income demands more work effort. We find no evidence of an underestimation because the impact of working hours on happiness is rather small and hill-shaped.

Quantifying the psychological costs of unemployment: the role of permanent income

Unemployment causes significant losses in the quality of life. In addition to reducing individual income, it also creates nonpecuniary and psychological costs. We quantify these nonpecuniary losses by using the life satisfaction approach. In contrast to previous studies, we apply Friedman's (1957) permanent income hypothesis by distinguishing between temporary and permanent effects of income changes. ...

Scarring or Scaring? The Psychological Impact of Past Unemployment and Future Unemployment Risk

We reassess the ‘scarring’ hypothesis which states that unemployment experienced in the past reduces a person's current life satisfaction even after the person has become reemployed. Our results suggest that the scar from past unemployment operates via worsened expectations of becoming unemployed in the future, and that it is future insecurity that makes people unhappy. Hence the terminology should ...

Dissatisfied with Life but Having a Good Day: Time-Use and Well-Being of the Unemployed

We apply the Day Reconstruction Method to compare unemployed and employed people with respect to their subjective assessment of emotional affects, differences in the composition and duration of activities during the course of a day and their self-reported life satisfaction. Employed persons are more satisfied with their life than the unemployed and report more positive feelings when engaged in similar ...

Right-Wing Extremism and the Well-Being of Immigrants

This study analyzes the effects of right-wing extremism on the well-being of immigrants based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) for the years 1984 to 2006 merged with state-level information on election outcomes. The results show that the life satisfaction of immigrants is significantly reduced if right-wing extremism in the native population increases. Moreover, the life satisfaction ...

Minimum Wage Incidence: The Case for Germany

This paper analyzes the impact of a statutory minimum wage on employment, wage inequality, public expenditures, and aggregate income in the low-wage sector for two scenarios: a competitive labor market and a monopsonistic labor market. Using data from the 2006 wave of the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP), we show that irrespective of which scenario adequately describes the labor market, a statutory ...

Der flächendeckende Mindestlohn

Die Einführung des flächendeckenden gesetzlichen Mindestlohns von 8,50 Euro ist ein großes, mit vielen sozialpolitischen Risiken verbundenes Experiment. Im ersten Teil dieses Übersichtsartikels zeigen wir, dass weder die unterschiedlichen theoretischen Erklärungsmodelle noch die große Anzahl empirischer Arbeiten aus anderen Ländern die Hoffnung rechtfertigen, der Mindestlohn würde in Deutschland keine ...