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Language Skills the Key to Labour Market Integration
  • Wido Geis-Thöne ·
  • IW-Trends No. 3 ·
  • 7 October 2019

Language Skills the Key to Labour Market Integration

Unlike their level of formal education, it is very difficult to monitor immigrants' German language skills and there is always a degree of uncertainty about their measurement. For this reason, the relationship between language skills and wages and unemployment was analysed using three different sets of data.
Immigrants’ Intentions: Moving on or Staying
  • Wido Geis-Thöne ·
  • IW-Trends No. 4 ·
  • 13 December 2018

Immigrants’ Intentions: Moving on or Staying

Although Germany has experienced a very high level of net immigration in recent years, the number of foreigners leaving the country has also increased significantly. Of the 708,000 who left Germany in 2017, 30 per cent had been in the country for more than three years and were therefore not typical examples of temporary forms of migration, such as studying abroad or international project work.
The Impact of Demographics on the German Retail Market
  • Michael Voigtländer / Björn Seipelt ·
  • IW-Report No. 6 ·
  • 24 February 2018

The Impact of Demographics on the German Retail Market

In recent years, net migration reached a new peak in Germany. Between 2011 and 2015, net migration amounted to more than 2.7 million people. This influx of people has had an impact on society, on the economy in general, and on most businesses.
Training and Education in the Main Countries of Origin
  • Kristina Stoewe ·
  • IW News ·
  • 2 February 2018

Training and Education in the Main Countries of Origin

By the end of 2016, Germany had registered around 1.6 million persons seeking protection (Federal Statistical Office, 2017). In order to facilitate their integration into the vocational training and labour market, information on refugees' educational degrees, vocational qualifications and competencies is of central importance.
Training and Education in the Main Countries of Origin
  • Kristina Stoewe ·
  • IW-Report ·
  • 29 January 2018

Education Levels of Refugees

By the end of 2016, Germany had registered around 1.6 million persons seeking protection (Federal Statistical Office, 2017a). In order to facilitate their integration into the vocational training and labour market, information on refugees' educational degrees, vocational qualifications and competencies is of central importance.
Labour market potentials of the freedom of movement for workers
  • Wido Geis ·
  • IW-Policy Paper No. 18 ·
  • 3 November 2017

Labour market potentials of the freedom of movement for workers

The freedom of movement for workers is one of the core principles of the European Union and most Europeans have positive attitude towards it. 75 percent regard it as a good and only 9 percent as a bad thing. Nevertheless, the number of persons moving from one EU member country to another is still small.
Securing Skilled Labour by Training High School Graduates from Abroad at German Universities
  • Wido Geis ·
  • IW-Trends ·
  • 4 August 2017

Securing Skilled Labour by Training High School Graduates from Abroad at German Universities

In recent years, more and more high school graduates from other countries, have been studying at German universities. While in the winter semester 2011/2012 there were around 193,000 such students, by 2015/2016 that number had risen to 252,000.
The Importance of Integration Support Programmes
  • Regina Flake / Svenja Jambo / Sarah Pierenkemper / Paula Risius / Dirk Werner ·
  • IW-Trends No. 2 ·
  • 17 March 2017

Employment and Training of Refugees in Companies

Approximately every sixth enterprise in Germany already employs refugees as trainees, interns or permanent staff. Of these, smaller trades and skilled crafts firms are making a particularly large contribution to integration.
Immigration Presents New Challenges
  • Christina Anger / Wido Geis ·
  • IW-Trends No. 1 ·
  • 6 March 2017

Educational Level, Educational Mobility and Income

The income prospects of young people in Germany depend to a large extent on their level of education. 31.5 per cent of those without a vocational qualification are in the lowest quintile of income distribution, while the figure for university graduates is only 7.4 per cent.
Qualified immigration from India showing signs of success
  • Oliver Koppel / Axel Plünnecke ·
  • IW-Kurzbericht No. 15 ·
  • 14 February 2017

Qualified immigration from India showing signs of success

In recent years, qualified immigration has started to play a significant role for the German labour market, especially for securing skilled STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) employment. Efforts made to attract STEM immigrants from India are starting to show signs of success – both the number of employees in academic STEM jobs and the number of students in STEM disciplines have increased significantly in recent times. From a strategic viewpoint, this immigration from demographically strong non-European countries is particularly important for the future.
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