IAB-Topics (new)

The economy and the labour market are subject to constant change. This change is influenced not only by long-term developments such as demographic shifts or globalisation but also by digital transformation, the effects of climate change, and unexpected events such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

The IAB analyses and forecasts the extent to which these factors influence labour market transformation by looking at their effects on employment and unemployment, as well as on the demand for skilled workers, wages, further training, working conditions, and labour supply. The occupational level forms a particular focus of analysis since structural transformation in the labour market is reflected, above all, in changes in occupational requirements, skills, and activities. Furthermore, the IAB analyses how technological change affects different regions.

IAB research in this field focuses on the instruments and regulations of labour market policy. The focus is on their implementation, effects, and mechanisms of action. Special attention is paid to the effects on labour-market integration, employability, and social participation. The research programme includes job-counselling, support, and placement processes, as well as labour market policy support instruments such as vocational preparation measures, publicly funded employment, further vocational training, and integration assistance, and wage replacement benefits. The analyses take gender aspects, current social developments, and labour market policy reforms into account. They do not only consider benefit recipients or unemployed and employed persons as individuals but also to some extent take the family context into account.

The IAB also focuses on the actions of central stakeholders and their interactions. This includes Jobcentres, employment agencies, and their specialist staff, benefit recipients, providers of support measures, and employers. The studies are based on quantitative analyses of process- and survey data (non-experimental econometric impact analyses, field experiments) as well as qualitative analyses (non-standardised surveys, participant observations). While quantitative studies primarily determine the impact of various instruments, qualitative studies serve to explore the implementation of labour market policy and its mechanisms of action.

One focus of research in this field is the development and structure of employment and job vacancies. Especially occupation- and qualification-specific aspects but also contractual forms such as fixed-term contracts or in-company training and further training activities, industrial relations, as well as innovation and productivity are relevant in this context.

Another essential element of the world of work is the quality of employment. The job requirements and the wages, employment stability, job satisfaction, and subjective perception of employment quality connected with the different jobs and forms of employment are of particular interest in this regard.

Central contextual factors of the analyses are the technological and ecological change, globalisation, and the institutional framework conditions such as the right to collective bargaining and co-determination, or minimum wages.

In addition, the data bases required for answering these research questions such as the IAB Establishment Panel (IAB-Betriebspanel) and the IAB Job Vacancy Survey (IAB-Stellenerhebung) are prepared. By linking establishment data with individual data, for example, in the Linked Employer Employee datasets (LIAB) or the Linked Personnel Panel (LPP), it is possible to take both the employer's and the employee's perspectives into account. Surveys of new enterprises and current labour market issues complement these surveys.

The research activities focus, on the one hand, on vocational orientation, vocational and educational aspirations, and post-school educational decisions that are relevant for the transition from school to vocational training, academic studies, or the labour market. Both transitions from training programmes and transitions from the regular education system are considered.

On the other hand, the IAB analyses the framework conditions and effects of continuing education and training. This includes not only the retrospective acquisition of formal education and vocational qualifications but also non-formal and informal continuing education and training. The importance of continuing vocational training in the context of technological change at the company- and individual level will also be examined.

The effects of institutional changes or of measures taken by the Federal Employment Agency play an important role. These include, for example, measures to provide vocational guidance to pupils or the promotion of continuing vocational training.

The Research has unique datasets at its disposal: in addition to administrative data, survey data such as the National Education Panel (Nationales Bildungspanel), the IAB Establishment Panel (IAB-Betriebspanel) or specially collected data such as that of the study on the vocational orientation of pupils form the basis for analysis.

The digital transformation with its impact on the world of employment remains one of the most discussed issues in labour market politics and science, as well as in the general public. Along with the digital transformation, the mitigation of the climate change, the conservation of biodiversity, and the preservation of natural resources constitute the major social challenges worldwide. The IAB also focuses its attention on the ecological transformation towards a low-carbon, environmentally friendly economy and subsequently its impact on the labour market.

In addition to this, labour market effects of "double transformation" are of particular interest to the working group. This term implies the necessity of handling both digitalization and decarbonization at the same time.

In Arbeitsgesellschaften gilt Erwerbsarbeit als Schlüssel für soziale Teilhabe. Gleichzeitig sind Arbeitslosigkeit, Unterbeschäftigung, geringe Einkommen oder beschränkte Erwerbsbeteiligung typische Risiken. Sie stellen besondere Herausforderungen an die Betroffenen und können sich mit weiteren individuellen und strukturellen Risiken zu kritischen Lebenslagen, ungleicher Chancenverteilung und sozialen Ausschlüssen verbinden. Erwerbsrisiken bilden damit einen wesentlichen Treiber wirtschaftlicher und sozialer Ungleichheit und können zur Entstehung von Armut und zur Gefährdung des gesellschaftlichen Zusammenhalts beitragen. Dies erfordert wohlfahrtsstaatliche Interventionen wie auch wissenschaftliche Beobachtung und Evaluation.

Das IAB untersucht vor diesem Hintergrund die Entwicklung von Lebenslagen, Lebenszusammenhängen, Lebensverläufen, Teilhabechancen und -risiken. Dabei werden zentrale ungleichheitsrelevante Merkmale von Personen, wie Geschlecht, Bildung und Beruf, soziale Herkunft und Alter, im jeweiligen Haushalts und Familienzusammenhang berücksichtigt.

Im Grundsicherungsbezug können die Übergänge aus Schule in Ausbildung oder in den Beruf besondere Hürden darstellen und langfristig negative Folgen für den Erwerbsverlauf mit sich bringen. Projekte zur Situation von Jugendlichen im SGB II sind damit ebenso wie Analysen zum Einfluss der (Berufs-)Ausbildung auf Erwerbs- und Armutsrisiken wichtige Bestandteile. Ein weiterer Fokus liegt auf Interaktionen im Grundsicherungsbezug, beispielsweise der Beratung und Vermittlung in Jobcentern, auf der Deutung und Wahrnehmung, praktischen Umsetzung, Effizienz und Effektivität von sozialpolitischen Interventionen sowie deren Wirkungen auf Lebensläufe, Verteilungsrelationen und soziale Schichtung, auf die Erwerbsbeteiligung und auf wirtschaftliche, soziale und kulturelle Teilhabe.

Die Covid-19-Pandemie hat die stärkste Wirtschaftskrise seit dem Zweiten Weltkrieg ausgelöst. Mit den massiven gesellschaftlichen, sozialen und ökonomischen Auswirkungen der Pandemie sind weitreichende Folgen für den Arbeitsmarkt verbunden. Die sozialen und wirtschaftlichen Sicherungssysteme werden stark beansprucht. Zudem steuert die Politik mit weiteren zusätzlichen Sicherungs- und Stabilisierungsmaßnahmen in bisher nicht gekanntem Umfang gegen die Krise.

Das IAB liefert rasch verfügbare Forschungsdaten und wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse zu den Folgen der Pandemie. Die Forschungsprojekte stützen sich dabei teils auf vorhandene administrative und Befragungsdaten, teils auf Erweiterungen laufender Erhebungen und teils auf eigens dazu auf den Weg gebrachte Beschäftigungs- und Betriebsbefragungen. Prominente Beispiele hierfür sind die Wiederholungsbefragung „Betriebe in der Covid-19-Krise“ und das hochfrequente Online-Personen-Panel (HOPP) „Leben und Erwerbstätigkeit in Zeiten von Corona“.

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered the worst economic crisis since World War II. The massive social, societal, and economic impact of the pandemic has far-reaching consequences for the labour market. The social and economic security systems are under great strain. Moreover, policymakers are countering the crisis with further additional safeguards and stabilisation measures on an unprecedented scale.

The IAB provides readily available research data and scientific knowledge on the consequences of the pandemic. The research projects are based in part on existing administrative and survey data, in part on extensions of ongoing surveys, and in part on employment and establishment surveys launched specifically for this purpose. Prominent examples include the repeat survey 'Establishments in the COVID-19 Crisis' and the high-frequency online personal panel (HOPP) 'Living and Working in Times of Coronavirus'.

The knowledge thus gained will help to better understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects of governmental measures. This will advance research and make an important contribution to policy advice.

With the "Research Data and Methods" focus area, the IAB combines methodological basic research with application-oriented labour market and occupational research. This includes the collection and processing of various data and making them available to the international research community. The IAB uses the register data generated through administrative processes which are stored and edited in the Federal Employment Agency's statistics data warehouse. This includes information on labour market policy benefits, measures such as job-counselling and -preparation, as well as employment subject to social security contributions. At the IAB, these data are adapted to research requirements and developed into research data.

Furthermore, data from quantitative (panel) surveys and qualitative interviews on employers, individuals, households, and Jobcenters are used. Based on data protection regulations, these data can be linked by record linkage methods. In addition, external data sources are harnessed, especially large, partly unstructured data volumes (big data). The data products generated in this way are made available internally for research and political consulting, processed further and made accessible to the national and international research community via various access routes through the Research Data Centre.

In order to increase the quality and usability of the data products for research, quality assurance has a high priority throughout the entire data life cycle and is accompanied by research projects. To this end, the IAB develops and evaluates new procedures for data collection, correction, and analysis. Experimental methods and statistical models are used, as are increasingly, artificial intelligence methods.

The labour market is undergoing profound changes due to long-term transformation processes such as digitalisation or immigration, and short-term events such as economic crises. In order to examine these comprehensively from a macroeconomic perspective, the IAB researches supply and demand on the labour market, the basic functioning of the labour market, the role of labour market institutions, as well as internationalisation processes and factors influencing macroeconomic labour market activity and forecasts the short-term and longer-term development of the labour market.

The focus is on searching and matching processes in the labour market, labour market effects of institutional regulations, and the role of reforms, the business cycle, technological change, trade and migration, as well as demography. Occupations and qualifications are of major importance both in analyses and forecasts of labour supply and demand. Central data sources are the IAB Job Vacancy Survey (IAB-Stellenerhebung), the Sample of Integrated Basic Security Biographies (Stichprobe Integrierte Grundsicherungsbiografien) and the IAB's Measurement of Hours Worked (IAB-Arbeitzeitrechnung) as well as macroeconomic data such as the National Accounts. In addition, big data, i.e., very large, partly fast-paced structured and unstructured data volumes from online systems are evaluated. From a methodological point of view, microsimulation, as well as long-term and short-term forecasting models, are further developed.

Spatial disparities are important for labour markets and their development on various levels: regional, national, and international. These dimensions are the central levels at which labour market policy is shaped and implemented decentrally by the Federal Employment Agency.

In addition to the mobility of goods and capital, migration is increasingly influencing labour markets in Germany and Europe. This equally applies to mobility within the European Single Market and to migration from third countries. This entails significant opportunities for labour markets but also new challenges, for example, in relation to the integration of refugees into the labour market and their participation in society. Important aspects in this context are, among others, the recognition of vocational qualifications (and skills) gained abroad as well as the career choice and participation in the vocational training market of refugees or migrants. The IAB answers the resulting research questions on the basis of its own surveys such as the IAB-SOEP Migration Sample and the IAB-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Refugees and process data, as well as through case studies.

At the same time, in the course of the current structural change due to digitalisation, automation, and decarbonisation, the gap between employment opportunities and wages is growing not only among different groups in the labour market but also in the regions. The labour market integration of men and women, for example, differs greatly according to the region of origin, family background, professional qualification, or education.

These developments also have a considerable impact on regional disparities in Germany and on measures to mitigate them, for example, with regard to differences between urban and rural regions, demographic change or the regional distribution of companies, sectors, and occupations.

At the IAB, regional disparities are, amongst others, investigated and compared using georeferenced data, and forecasts of the development of regional labour markets are developed. The IAB's small-scale analyses, for example on individual occupations and training market events as well as on regional mobility, contribute to a deeper understanding of the processes at work in Germany's regional labour markets and at the same time enable insights which are important for explaining macroeconomic and social interrelationships.

Matters of international migration, future labour requirements and the integration of new immigrants and later generations of migrants have strongly dominated the public discussion over the last few years and are likely to constitute challenges for the future, both in the short- and long-term perspective. Within the framework of its general research mandate, IAB critically examines the various aspects of migration and integration in a manner that transcends the work of individual disciplines.

At the present time, analysis is concentrating on ways of improving access to the labour market and labour market integration for migrants and those with a migrant background. Further important topics to be dealt with in the near future are the connection between the demand for manpower and the demand for immigration; aspects and the effects of movements of highly qualified persons within the international context; and the impacts of labour market policy in general and of specific labour market policy measures on migrants or those with a migrant background.

In the subject area of social security in case of unemployment or in professional life that is relevant for the IAB, the way social security is designed is discussed, and furthermore what support benefits and obligations to cooperate, if any, are planned and what consequences these have regarding the situation, perspective and chances of the affected persons.

The core of the focus topic “social security in changing times” is social security in case of unemployment and social security for the working population with low income. The IAB comprehensively researches the role of unemployment insurance as well as, in particular, the situation and biographies of those receiving basic benefits for job-seekers as the largest social security system for those fit for work. The different groups of persons with specific risks as well as instable employment histories with frequent phases of unemployment and periods of atypical employment or employment with low wages are important in this context. Therefore, the question regarding the role upstream benefits such as unemployment insurance, housing assistance, and children’s allowance (can) play for securing such constellations, besides providing basic benefits, arises. Another question is how this affects downstream benefits (social assistance or basic benefits in case of reduced earning capacity and old age) and what strategies there are to stabilise employment histories, for example, by providing further training and counselling during one’s professional life.

In addition to this, there are questions regarding the basic principles of social security and the counselling, support and placement process as well as the relevance of social security and the tax and transfer system for the development of social inequality. Moreover, the perceptions of justice and the acceptance of social state benefits and principles in the population are relevant.