Topic Inequality

Loneliness in Germany: Low-Income Earners at Highest Risk of Loneliness

Loneliness poses a serious health risk: Along with negatively impacting life quality, it can even shorten the life span. This Weekly Report investigates loneliness in Germany using Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) data from 2021 on loneliness. The analyses highlight the prevalence of three facets of loneliness (aloneness, isolation, exclusion) as well as regional differences and high-risk groups. The results ...

The Diverging Trends of Male and Female Bottom Earnings in Germany

Men at the bottom quintile of the German male earnings distribution had lower average earnings in 2019 than in 2001. In contrast, female earnings have increased throughout the distribution. What explains these diverging trends and how did they translate into changes in net income? Data from the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) reveal that the drop in bottom male earnings is mostly due to a decrease in work ...

A Cohabitation Wealth Premium for Women and Men: Considering the Regulatory Framework and Normative Acceptance in France and Germany

We examine the association between cohabitation and women’s and men’s wealth, closely considering the distinct regulatory and normative contexts in France and Eastern and Western Germany. Using longitudinal data from the German Socio- Economic Panel Study (2002–2017) and the French wealth survey Histoire de Vie et Patrimoine (2014/15-2020/21), we apply fixed-effects regression models to examine potential ...

Perceived Discrimination Among Migrants in Germany: Does Social Capital Moderate Harmful Effects on Mental Health?

Background The harmful mental health effects of perceived discrimination for migrant populations are well established. The potential buffering effect of regional-level social capital, however, has not previously been explored. Methods Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP; 2009–2018) we apply multilevel models to assess the effect of frequent or infrequent perceived discrimination on ...

Income Distribution: Signs of a Trend Reversal In the Poverty Risk; Single Parents Less Frequently at Risk of Poverty

Despite high inflation, the real gross hourly wages of employees grew by around 15 percent from 1995 to 2022. In particular, the lowest wage decile caught back up to all other deciles following a sharp drop in real wages. At the same time, the low-wage sector has shrunk by nearly five percentage points since 2007, and by even more in the east of Germany (14 percent). In 2022, 18.5 percent of employees ...

The Gender Gap in Fair Earnings Increases with Age Due to Higher Age Premium for Men

This study explores how gender and age interact in shaping beliefs about fair pay through a factorial survey experiment conducted with German employees. Respondents evaluated hypothetical worker descriptions varying in age, gender, and earnings. While no gender gap in fair earnings was found for the youngest hypothetical workers, a significant gap favoring men emerged with increasing age. This suggests ...

The Gender Pension Gap Grows the More Children a Woman Has

The gender pension gap, the difference in pension entitlements between men and women, is 32 percent for 60-yearolds according to data from the German Pension Insurance (Deutsche Rentenversicherung). In addition, there is a considerable motherhood pension gap: Statutory pension entitlements for mothers and childless women differ greatly. Pension-related childcare credits, which were introduced in 1986 ...

Share of refugees in Germany who are sending remittances abroad is declining

WEALTHTRAJECT: Understanding Trajectories of Wealth Accumulation and Their Variability

As part of the ERC Consolidator Grant WEALTHTRAJECT, Philipp Lersch will break new ground in wealth research over the next five years, and further expand the range of high quality data collection by SOEP. WEALTHTRAJECT is the first project to comprehensively and systematically investigate diversity in long-term wealth trajectories within and between social groups. The starting point of the...

Unveiling financial dependency: The motherhood penalty on individual poverty risk within couples in Germany, 1990–2019

Typically, poverty risk is assessed at the household level, neglecting within-couple income inequality and the role of individual characteristics in vulnerability to income poverty. This paper uses SOEP data and a quasi-experimental event study design to investigate poverty dynamics within couples over an 8-year period around the first birth. It follows partnered women (N=1,174) and men (N=1,137)...