SOEP-LEE and SOEP-LEE2
Study Information
The SOEP provides various linked employer-employee datasets. Some of them stem from the two SOEP-LEE studies, both of which included data collection from establishments that employ SOEP-Core participants. The first SOEP-LEE study collected one wave of data in 2012, while SOEP-LEE2 added two more waves in 2022 and 2024. SOEP-LEE2 also comprises a business-related survey of self-employed SOEP-Core participants, which was fielded in 2022 and 2024, extending the 2020 wave contributed by the INNOMSME study. Within SOEP-LEE2, additional data were collected from establishments that are not linkable to SOEP-Core, but that received a similar questionnaire, resulting in a larger dataset for company-level analyses. The data from the study “Betriebe und berufliche Arbeitswelten in Deutschland” (SOEP-LEE2-Compare) are available on request as a Scientific Use File (SUF) and at the guest research workstation at the FDZ-BO at DIW Berlin. Further information and documentation on the study can be found on the Gesis website.
The two SOEP-LEE studies collected data on different topics. The first SOEP-LEE study focused on organization and management, human resources policies, wages and inequality, and the financial situation of the establishments. SOEP-LEE2 kept some of these topics, but its main focus were workplace digitalization, the organization of work, personnel management and development, as well as, in its 2022 wave, the COVID-19 pandemic. Further studies, jointly with uzbonn and starting in fall 2024, focus on the topics of corporate cybersecurity and resilience. The self-employed survey asked in the 2020 wave about innovation and productivity, R&D, (intangible) capital, and perceptions about one's own entrepreneurial activity. The 2022 wave continued with these themes, but adopted some questions from the SOEP-LEE2 establishment questionnaire for larger coherence.
Dataset Information and Data Access keyboard_arrow_up
Data access
Researchers who wish to access the data can do so by ordering the SOEP-Core EU edition (see SOEP data access) or by visiting the Research Data Center of the SOEP (see SOEP-in-Residence program). In the RDC SOEP, researchers have access to the onsite edition, which provides some variables of the SOEP-LEE2 data with more detailed scales and categories. Data from the first SOEP-LEE study are only available in the RDC SOEP.
Data Structure and Linkage
We provide the data of the two SOEP-LEE studies in different datasets. Data of the first SOEP-LEE study are contained in the datasets slee_estab and slee_sample. slee_estab includes the data collected in the establishment survey, while slee_sample is the linkage file that contains SOEP-Core person identifiers (pid) and establishment identifiers (eid), allowing for linkage with SOEP-Core.
Data of SOEP-LEE2 employer survey is distributed in the datasets lee2estab, lee2brutto, and lee2person. lee2estab contains the survey data themselves, while lee2brutto provides additional field work information. lee2person is the linkage file that contains SOEP-Core person identifiers (pid) and establishment identifiers (eid), allowing for linkage with SOEP-Core. Note that it is not possible to combine the 2012 wave of SOEP-LEE with the subsequent waves of SOEP-LEE2 into a single panel dataset because the 2012 wave uses different establishment identifiers, also if by chance the same establishment was surveyed.
Data for the self-employed is provided in the selfempl dataset. Each individual's business is identified by the SOEP-Core person identifier (pid) so that no further linkage file is required.
Citation
For the first SOEP-LEE study, please cite: Weinhardt, M.; Meyermann, A.; Liebig, S.; Schupp, J. (2017). The Linked Employer-Employee Study of the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP-LEE): Content, Design and Research Potential. Jahrbücher für Nationalökonomie und Statistik 237(5), 457–467. https://doi.org/10.1515/jbnst-2015-1044.
For SOEP-LEE2, please cite: Matiaske, W., Schmidt, T. D., Halbmeier, C., Maas, M., Holtmann, D., Schröder, C., Böhm, T., Liebig, S., and Kritikos, A. S. (2023). SOEP-LEE2 : Linking Surveys on Employees to Employers in Germany. Jahrbücher Für Nationalökonomie Und Statistik Data Observer, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1515/jbnst-2023-0031
Documentation keyboard_arrow_up
Questions and variables are documented as part of SOEP-Core on paneldata.org. Moreover, the following documentation is currently available:
slee_estab, 2012:
- Questionnaire, pseudo-PAPI, PDF (de (PDF, 2.76 MB))
- Codebook (de (PDF, 335.4 KB))
- Methodological report (de (PDF, 3.1 MB))
- Project Report (en (PDF, 1.45 MB))
selfempl, 2020 (ab v39)
lee2estab, 2021 (ab v38)
- Questionnaire, PAPI (de (PDF, 459.86 KB))
- Questionnaire, with Reference to Variables (de (PDF, 212.49 KB)) (en (PDF, 210.12 KB))
selfempl, 2022 (ab v39)
Codebooks SOEP v39:
