Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

The Affective Well-Being of Ukrainian Refugees in Germany: Evidence from Five Waves of Representative Panel Data

As a result of the Russo-Ukrainian war, several million Ukrainians fled, more than one million to Germany. Until now, most studies on mental health of Ukrainian refugees are cross-sectional and there is a clear need to observe their well-being. We employed five waves of the IAB-BiB/FReDA-BAMF-SOEP (later BiB/FReDA) Survey on Ukrainian Refugees in Germany analyzing affective balance, starting shortly ...

Asylum seekers feel more welcome in counties with more foreign-born residents

European countries are struggling with the largest inflows of asylum seekers since World War II, with ongoing debates about how best to promote asylum seeker integration. This article presents evidence from Germany which suggests asylum seekers feel more welcome when living in counties with more foreign-born residents. This relationship is stronger when asylum seekers and foreign-born residents have ...

Take It Easy! How Flexible Work Arrangements Bust the Commuting Life Satisfaction Nexus

Commuting to work can negatively affect people's well-being. This paper analyzes the effect of commuting distance on subjective well-being for employees under different work time regimes. The analysis is based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) for 2003–2021. The causal effect of commuting distance is identified by quasi-experimental changes for employees who experience firm ...

Various Domains of Integration of Refugees and Their Interrelationships: A Study of Recent Middle Eastern Refugee Inflows in Austria

This paper investigates the size and direction of the interrelationships between two important aspects of integration of refugees in Austria: labour market integration and social integration. Labour market integration is captured in terms of being in paid employment, as compared to being unemployed or inactive, whereas social integration distinguishes between social networks and their ethnic composition ...

Taxing fairly or failing badly? Reduced VAT rates and redistribution

The application of reduced VAT rates in the EU generally aims to alleviate the regressivity of consumption taxation. However, while these measures generate redistribution across income groups, they also do so within income groups, leading to arbitrary redistribution among households with similar incomes but different consumption patterns. Using the Analysis of Gini (ANOGI) decomposition, we evaluate ...

Temporary Employment and First Births: A Path Analysis of the Underlying Mechanisms Using Australian and German Panel Data

In many countries, temporary work (including fixed-term and casual employment contracts) is negatively associated with fertility. Yet, the mechanisms underlying this relationship remain poorly understood. This study investigates several mediating pathways (wages, financial satisfaction, short tenure, and subjective job insecurity) through which temporary work influences the transition to first birth ...

Examining interindividual differences in unemployment-related changes in subjective well-being: The role of psychological well-being and re-employment expectations

This study examined whether the six trait-like dimensions of psychological well-being (e.g., autonomy and environmental mastery) moderate the effects of unemployment on various facets of subjective well-being (i.e., life satisfaction, satisfaction with life domains, and experienced mood). Further, re-employment expectations during unemployment were investigated as a moderator in this context. The study ...

Support for everyone or selection of some? Self-selection and assignment into a large-scale refugee mentoring program in Germany

Mentoring has become a popular support strategy for recently arrived immigrants and refugees, offering access to valuable information and resources. However, little is known about selection processes into mentoring programs—who chooses to enrol, who receives support, and whether these patterns are systematic. Such selection affects not only program evaluations but also broader issues of refugee integration ...

Impacts of Different Measures of Health on Labor Market Exit

Pandemic-Ready Data: Linking the Socio-Economic Panel with Administrative Health Records

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed significant weaknesses in Germany’s ability to generate timely, equity-sensitive evidence at the household level. While national surveillance systems produced daily counts of confirmed cases, hospitalisations, and deaths, they offered little insight into the social and economic conditions shaping the spread and impact of the virus. Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), ...