This research project explores the diffusion and perception of digital technologies in the German labor market. We measure diffusion via information conveyed in online job vacancies and perception via media reports. Concentrating on emerging digital technologies, we stress both, their potentials, such as wage and employment growth, and pitfalls, such as inequality and biased narratives. Our analyses rely on novel text data, which we partially construct ourselves, and modern Machine Learning and NLP methods to analyze textual data. By combining our text data with survey and administrative information, we are able to shed light on the impact of digitalization on Germany’s labor market outcomes and educational decisions from different perspectives.
Evaluation of Active Labor Market Programs for the Integration of Refugees – Follow-up project
The follow-up study builds on an extensive evaluation study completed in 2021, which examined and assessed the implementation, utilization, effectiveness and efficiency of labor market-oriented integration measures for refugees. The goal of the follow-up project is to extend the quantitative analyses conducted in the main project to a longer observation period in order to capture longer-term effects of the measures studied on the labor market integration of refugees or to assess the sustainability of the measured short-term effects. Within the consortium, RWI is particularly involved in the evaluation of training programs.
Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB)
The Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB) investigates the causes and consequences of demographic change.In an advisory capacity, the BiB is in contact with the federal government and federal ministries and advises them on the basis of scientific research. As part of the advisory cooperation, the BiB supports the Federal Government in international cooperation on population issues within the framework of the United Nations. Informing the public about demographic change and the Institute’s research findings is another important task. The Institute was founded in 1973 and is since then is based in Wiesbaden, Hesse.
As part of the advisory cooperation, the BiB supports the Federal Government in international cooperation on population issues within the framework of the United Nations.Informing the public about demographic change and the Institute’s research findings is another central task.
The Institute is a federal departmental research institution and is part of the portfolio of the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Home Affairs.
Important works and tasks:
- Research: Research is a central task at the BiB. It is the basis for sound advice and information. One of its core tasks is the continuous monitoring of demographic trends. Other areas of focus include the three research areas of family and fertility, migration and mobility, and demographic change and ageing. In addition, the Education and Human Capital research group, which was newly formed in 2021, investigates the importance of education for population development in Germany. One example of this is the study “Why children from potentially disadvantaged families are less likely to attend daycare – even if they need it” which was conducted on behalf of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation.
- Policy advice: On the basis of the institute’s own research findings, the institute advises the federal government and federal ministries. Information, interpretation of demographic trends and the preparation of scientific expertise represent core competencies in policy advice. At the level of international cooperation within the framework of the United Nations, the BiB advises and supports the federal government on population issues.
- Information: The BiB publishes the results of its research in numerous publications. In more than 430 charts, maps and tables, the BiB regularly publishes information on demographic facts for Germany, Europe and the world.
PIAAC
PIAAC was a survey supported by the OECD that aimed to determine the competence level in international relation – similar to PISA. In contrast to PISA, PIAAC focused on the survey on adult competencies. The PIAAC survey determined basic competencies which are necessary for a successful participation in society and especially in professional life. Thus, PIAAC described the potential of human capital on which countries in global competition can draw on. The survey findings built a profound basis for possible political and social interventions. The survey was implemented simultaneously in 25 countries as a population survey. The first wave was conducted in 2011/2012. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS) entrusted GESIS with the national project management in Germany. This included the planning of the national survey, the adaption of the survey instruments, the implementation of the survey, as well as the data analysis and the reporting. The national PIAAC report was published simultaneously with the international publication of results in October 2013.
ifo Education Survey
The ifo Education Survey was developed by the ifo Center for the Economics of Education as part of the project “The political economy of education policy: Insights from an opinion survey” funded by the Leibniz Association. The ifo Education Survey is based on an annual public opinion survey of over 4,000 individuals who constitute a representative sample of Germany’s adult population.
The results of the ifo Education Survey in can be found on the website of ifo Institute.
PIAAC-L
PIAAC-L was the nationwide long-term study of the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) in Germany. The project was conducted by a consortium consisting of GESIS, the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) at the DIW Berlin, and LIfBi. Test takers from PIAAC in Germany and their families were re-interviewed three more times between 2014 and 2017, respectively subjected to alternative competence measures.
Research Questions
- How do individual competencies impact on the employment careers of people living in Germany?
- How are person abilities interrelated with occupational mobility?
- How are competencies distributed between individual families and between partners?
- And what does this mean for chances of upward mobility in our society?
NEPS
The German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) is a study carried out by the LIfBi. It is an interdisciplinary and multilocational network of excellence consisting of research institutes, research groups, and individual scientists. To find out more about the acquisition of education and its effects on individual life courses and to describe and analyze key educational processes and trajectories over the entire life span, this longitudinal study examines educational processes and competence development from early childhood to late adulthood. Data collected by NEPS are made available free of charge to international scientists aiming to study educational processes. Over the mid- and long-term, the design of NEPS will make an important contribution towards answering the following key questions:
- How do competencies develop over the life course?
- How do competencies influence decision-making processes at various critical transitions in educational careers (and vice versa)?
- How and to what extent are competencies influenced by learning opportunities in the family, in the peer group, and in the learning environments of kindergarten, school, higher education, vocational training, and further education?
- What competencies are decisive for obtaining educational qualifications, which for lifelong learning and which for a successful personal and social life?
Personality and Education Effects (PEB)
The project aimed to prepare a concept for the description of non-monetary return on education for the education report of the federal government on the basis of theoretical and empirical approaches. The subproject „Personality and education effects“ examined to what extent education variables predict personality changes in childhood and adolescence and whether these effects are independent of the students’ cognitive competences or whether the cognitive competences have an effect on personality beyond the influence of education. Furthermore the subproject investigated whether adults’ level of competence and (previous) participation in education determines personality pattern and changes. Additionally, interaction effects of personality and competences on outcome variables (e.g. life satisfaction) were examined. The central data sources are the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) and especially the additional national longitudinal study PIAAC-L.
Follow-up study within the NEPS
Students who were in grade 9 in 2010 were interviewed since then on a regular basis within the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS). After the first funding period, the NEPS-consortium excluded former students of special schools from the main sample in December 2013. Therefore, there was a need for external funding to continue with the “special school sample”.
There is a lack of data on educational trajectories and transitions of former students who graduated from special schools. However, NEPS data allowed an analysis of transitions from general school systems to either a transition or a vocational training system (after grade nine or ten). Nevertheless, it is not known if those transitions succeed or fail.
This research project continued surveys of those students on a regular basis and contributed to the following research questions:
- How do they proceed through different educational stages (after grade nine or ten)?
- Who are the ones experiencing a smooth transition from school to the vocational training system?
- Who is dropping out and who is not making use of available options at all?
- Which factors have an impact on the school-training-transition?
- Do students from special schools differ regarding their development of competences?
- Which measures support the transition to the vocational training system, which do not?
- Is in-school-guidance perceived as more helpful compared to extracurricular guidance?
- And are there differences between these students and those with similar competences from different school types?
It was expected to get profound insights into educational trajectories of former students of special schools. The dataset can be used as a German-wide reference data set to contextualize process-based data collected by the Federal Employment Agency.
ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research
The ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research in Mannheim is a nonprofit and independent institute with the legal form of a limited liability company (GmbH). Founded in 1990 on the basis of a public-private initiative in the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg in co-operation with the University of Mannheim, ZEW is one of Germany’s leading economic research institutes, and has an excellent reputation throughout Europe.
ZEW pursues four key objectives:
- To conduct research of the highest quality
- To provide scientifically grounded economic policy advising
- To train up-and-coming economists
- To inform the professional and lay public.
The Institute focuses on decision-makers in politics, economics, and administration, scientists in the national and international arena as well as the interested public. Regular interviews on the situation on the financial markets and the economic situation of the information industry as well as the large-scale annual study on innovation activities in the German economy are representative for the different types of information provided by ZEW.
Under the leadership of Achim Wambach, the president of the Institute, and Thomas Kohl, the director of business and administration, ZEW currently employs a staff of 176 in seven research departments, two research groups, and two service areas.
In order to ensure a high standard of excellence in research, ZEW promotes international co-operation with universities (e.g. integration in doctoral programs) and the ongoing development of its staff by granting periods of paid release from normal project work. These sabbaticals can be used for postgraduate doctorates, postdoctoral theses, or fellowships at renowned universities and research institutions.
The high quality of ZEW’s research work was confirmed in 1998, when the German Council of Science and Humanities evaluated ZEW and recommended its inclusion in the joint state and federal funding program. Since 2005, the Institute has received basic funding from this program. ZEW is a member of the Leibniz Association, a network of research institutes with outstanding scientific qualifications.
ion, a network of research institutes with outstanding scientific qualifications.
An excellent evaluation result in 2009 characterised the ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research as an institution of international significance. Due to this assessment, the Leibniz-Association Senate recommended to the German federal and state governments to promote ZEW according to national strategies of science policy. The senate explicitly stated that “ZEW is an extraordinarily successful institute of empirical economic research with great prospects”.
Research Approach and Research Fields:
ZEW’s guiding mission is to study the “optimal performance of markets and institutions in Europe”. To this end, ZEW applies a plurality of methodologies, with a clear focus on microeconomic and microeconometric research. The Institute co-operates closely with other scientific disciplines as necessary to address research questions. In this context, the research institute distinguishes itself, inter alia, in the analysis of internationally comparative questions in the European context and in the creation of data bases which are eminently important as a basis for scientific research. In addition, ZEW provides external persons and bodies with excerpts of selected data stocks for the purpose of scientific research.
ZEW is subdivided into the following six research fields
- Labour Markets and Human Resources
- Digital Economy
- Economics of Innovations and Industrial Dynamics
- International Finance and Financial Management
- Environmental and Resource Economics, Environmantal Management
- Corporate Taxation and Public Finance
- Social Policy and Redistribution
and one research group
- Market Design
Evaluations in regular intervals ensure the quality of the work performed in the research fields and its orientation towards the Institute’s research program. Evaluations are carried out by the Scientific Advisory Council of ZEW, which is composed of renowned German and foreign scientists as well as of executives from the economy and public administration.
The ZEW provides external scientists with a range of research data sets. The ZEW research data offered at ZEW-FDZ is individual data collected through ZEW business surveys and ZEW expert surveys.
