Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

The German Employment Protection Act - How does it work in company practice?

The article describes the manner in which in companies make decisions about dismissals. It begins with the presentation of a number of theories, which attempt to depict the complexity of the employment relationship. This is followed by the presentation of the legal framework and the various options for action at the respective levels. The third section draws together empirical data that illuminates ...

How does subjective well-being evolve with age? A literature review

This literature review provides an overview of the theoretical and empirical research in several disciplines on the relation between ageing and subjective well-being, i.e., how subjective well-being evolves across the lifespan. Because of the different methodologies, data sets and samples used, comparison among disciplines and studies is difficult. However, extant studies do show either a U-shaped, ...

Foreigners and the Social Insurance System in Germany

Trends in active life expectancy in Germany between 1984 and 2003 - a cohort analysis with different health indicators

Can We Really (All) Work Longer? Trends in Healthy Life Expectancy According to Social Stratum in Germany

Against the background of raising the retirement age to 67 years and the associated lengthening of working lifetimes in higher age groups, this article examines the question of the extent to which this political objective is covered by the health assets of the population. Here, we will first trace trends in “healthy” life expectancy among the total population for different points in time 1989, 1999 ...

Poverty Statistics: Issues in Poverty Measurement. Planning and Design of Household Panel Surveys for Enhancing Poverty Statistics

The Impact of Young Children on Women’s Labour Supply: A Reassessment of Institutional Effects in Europe

The proportion of women who withdraw from paid employment when they have children differs considerably among the countries of the European Union (EU), and the variation has mostly been attributed to institutional factors. In this study, we reassess the institutional explanation, because earlier supportive evidence is threatened by two alternative macro-level explanations: the influence of the economic ...

Unemployment Duration and Noncognitive Skills

This paper focuses on the role of noncognitive skills on the success of unemployed workers finding a job. We argue that a worker's job search intensity not only relies on the conventional determinants discussed in the job search literature but is decisively driven by her noncognitive skills which rejected in her propensity to motivate and control herself while searching for a job. Moreover, personality ...

Unemployment duration and personality

This paper focuses on the role personality traits play in determining individual unemployment duration. We argue that a worker’s job search intensity is decisively driven by her personality traits, reflected in her propensity to motivate and control herself while searching for a job. Moreover, personality traits, in as far as they can be signaled to a potential employer, may also enhance the probability ...

Social Structure and the Paradox of the Contented Female Worker: How Occupational Gender Segregation Biases Justice Perceptions of Wages

This article provides a structural explanation for the paradox of the contented female worker. Although they are generally aware that they earn less than men, women usually perceive their wages as more just. This article argues that men and women do not differ in how they perceive their wages, yet the gendered segregation of the labor market will constrain the availability of preferred same-gender ...