Germany is sitting on a veritable treasure trove of untapped labour potential. The greatest lever for releasing this potential lies in increasing the number of working hours per capita and not in increasing the number of people in employment. There are still large reserves in the labour force participation of the over 50 to 70-year-olds and immigrants living in Germany. There is also a great deal of potential among women working part-time without children to look after. This was determined by the Institute for Applied Economic Research (IAW) on behalf of the Family Business Foundation in a simulation calculation.
Of the 125,000 Ukrainians seeking protection in Baden-Württemberg (as of the end of 2023), around one in five people (22 percent) of working age are now in employment. Around four out of five Ukrainian employees are subject to social security contributions, although the proportion of women is slightly lower than that of men. On average, 10 percent of all companies in Baden-Württemberg report contact with a person who has fled from Ukraine (previous year: 7 percent). Around 40 percent of companies with at least one contact request reported a subsequent employment relationship (previous year: 29 percent). Companies with vacancies are four times more likely to employ Ukrainian refugees than companies without vacancies. In particular, companies with vacancies that require a low level of qualification are more likely to employ a refugee from Ukraine.
Where does all the undeclared work come from? Business podcast by ZEIT and ZEIT ONLINE
Hosts Carla Neuhaus and Jens Tönnesmann discuss with Bernhard Boockmann, who has been researching the damage caused by undeclared work at the Institute for Applied Economic Research (IAW) for 15 years. In the podcast, the economist explains why he expects a further increase this year and how politicians could better curb illegal employment.
IAW lecture event with panel discussion at the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart
Lecture:
Gender equality in the labor market - scientific evidence and political options for action.
Photo: Deutsche Bundesbank
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Nicola Fuchs-Schündeln, Chair of Macroeconomics and Development at the Department of Economics at Goethe University Frankfurt a.M.
Panel discussion:
Photo: Deutsche Bundesbank
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Nicola Fuchs-Schündeln, Goethe University of Frankfurt a.M. Dr. Nicola Brandt, Head of the OECD Berlin Centre Dr. Claudia Holtschlag, HR Analytics & Transformation Manager, Vodafone Roland Wolf, Managing Director and Head of the Labor Law and Collective Bargaining Policy Department, BDA Moderation: Johannes Pennekamp, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Award of the Norbert Kloten Prize for Applied Economic Research 2024
Overall, the different types of courses offer heterogeneous groups of participants good opportunities to further develop their linguistic and social integration. On the other hand, job-related German language support only partially achieves the desired effects in terms of labour market integration in the period of up to 30 months after the start of a vocational language course. During the language acquisition phase, vocational language courses, which are usually full-time programmes, can only be combined with gainful employment to a limited extent. Even after completing the course, former participants are less likely to be employed than comparable non-participants during the observation period.
Why a labour market boom does not necessarily bring down inequality: putting together Germany's inequality puzzle
Fiscal Studies, February 2022, Vol. 43, 121-149, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1475-5890.12294
Forschungsprojekt im Kontext der Corona-Pandemie im Rahmen des Fördernetzwerks Interdisziplinäre Sozialforschung (FIS), IAW Policy Reports Nr. 21, Dezember 2021
