Germans in Germany's Ethnic Neighborhoods

In contrast to most research on the effects on residents of living in an ethnic neighborhood, this paper explores how living within an ethnic neighborhood affects members of the dominant ethnic group - in this case Germans - rather than the minorities that define it. The results indicate that Germans living within ethnic neighborhoods are less well off financially than their peers in other parts of the city, and are more likely to be living in large buildings in need of repair. The analysis did not however suggest that Germans living in ethnic neighborhoods have fewer social contacts, or that they are more likely to be unemployed. Indeed, Germans living within ethnic neighborhoods reported levels of satisfaction with their housing and standard of living equal to Germans elsewhere. These results would seem to paint a rosy picture of the lives of German residents of ethnic neighborhoods, were it not for a notable absence of school-aged German children within these spaces.

The Societal Integration of Immigrants in Germany

This paper investigates whether and to what extent immigrants in Germany are integrated into German society by utilizing a variety of qualitative information and subjective data collected in the 1999 wave of the German Socio- Economic Panel (GSOEP).To this end, leisure-time activities and attitudes of native Germans, ethnic Germans and foreign immigrants of different generations are compared. The empirical results suggest that conditional on observable characteristics the activities and attitudes of foreign immigrants from both generations differ much more from those of native Germans than the activities/ attitudes of ethnic Germans. Furthermore, the attitudes of second-generation immigrants tend to be characterized by a larger degree of fatalism, pessimism and self-doubt than those of all other groups, although their activities and participation in societal life resemble more those of native Germans than those of their parents generation.Subjective data, first- and second-generation immigrants, ethnic Germans

Information Asymmetry, Education Signals and the Case of Ethnic and Native Germans

This paper analyses the effects of education signals for Ethnic Germans and Germans without a migration background (“Native Germans”). We base our analysis on a sorting model with productivity enhancing effects of education. We compare whether the signalling value differs between the migrants and non-migrants in the German labour market. Starting from the theoretical result that only a separating equilibrium can exist, we find substantial empirical differences between Ethnic and Native Germans with the same formal education level. This empirical analysis is done with a completely new dataset based on administrative data from the German Federal Employment Agency.sorting theory, human-capital theory, returns to education, migration

Inter-ethnic Partnerships: Key Characteristics, and What They Reveal about Successful Integration

Partnerships between immigrants and native-born citizens are commonly viewed as the product of successful social integration, as well as a possible driving force of economic success. Thus, immigrants living in inter-ethnic partnerships have on average a higher level of education, better occupational status, and higher income than those living in intra-ethnic relationships. Data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) show that immigrants in relationships with native Germans describe themselves on average as particularly communicative and open. However, in this area there is no difference between Germans in inter-ethnic relationships and those in German-German partnerships. Similarly, readiness to take risks and general life satisfaction are not above average among Germans in inter-ethnic relationships. By contrast, immigrants in inter-ethnic relationships evaluate themselves as particularly willing to take risks and interested in politics. In addition, they see themselves as less often subject to discrimination than immigrants living in intra-ethnic partnerships.Intermarriage, Big 5 Personality Traits, Migration

Information asymmetry, education signals and the case of Ethnic and Native Germans

"This paper analyses the effects of education signals for Ethnic Germans and Germans without a migration background ('Native Germans'). We base our analysis on a sorting model with productivity enhancing effects of education. We compare whether the signalling value differs between the migrants and non-migrants in the German labour market. Starting from the theoretical result that only a separating equilibrium can exist, we find substantial empirical differences between Ethnic and Native Germans with the same formal education level. This empirical analysis is done with a completely new dataset based on administrative data from the German Federal Employment Agency." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))integrierte Erwerbsbiografien, Bildungsniveau, Bildungsabschluss, Inländer, Aussiedler, Hochqualifizierte, mittlere Qualifikation, Niedrigqualifizierte, Lohnhöhe, Lohnunterschied

Does higher education help immigrants find a job? : A survival analysis

"We analyse the role that education signals play in the transition rates from unemployment to finding a job. We compare the results for Ethnic Germans with those for foreigners from the same origin countries and Native Germans. In the first case, the two have the same labour market access but different migration backgrounds. In the second case, the migration background is similar, but labour market access is not. We find that Ethnic Germans fare better than foreigners because more of them are able to accredit their foreign degrees and hence can apply for a job as a medium- or high-skilled individual which both have faster transition rates than the low-skilled. However, both foreigners and Ethnic Germans with accredited degrees have similar transition rates. Finally, if education signals are acquired in Germany, the differences between all three groups vanish more or less completely." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))Aussiedler, berufliche Reintegration, Migranten, Deutscher, Arbeitsmarktchancen, Aussiedlerpolitik, Bildungsabschluss - Anerkennung, Integrierte Erwerbsbiografien

Native-Immigrant Wage Differentials in Germany - Assimilation, Discrimination, or Human Capital?

This study uses the concept of stochastic frontiers for analyzing the income disparity between ethnic groups in West Germany. Estimation of a potential rather than an average earnings function increases the explanatory power of the human capital approach and allows for detecting discrimination as well as assimilation processes. The empirical results im-ply that the human capital gap explains more than 75% of the wage differential between natives and foreign nationalities in Germany. As for ethnic Germans migrants, their wage disparity can be explained by 50% with human capital differentials. Surprisingly, only small differences could be observed with regard to the question of earnings efficiency. On an average, inhabitants as well as immigrants transformed about 85% to 90% of their potential income into actual earnings. The sources for the individually diverging efficiency ratios are not well understood, with discrimination only found for ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe. Somewhat disappointing, the assimilation hypothesis was clearly rejected for all migrants with again the exception being ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe.

The Furthest Watch of the Reich: National Socialism, Ethnic Germans, and the Occupation of the Serbian Banat, 1941-1944

This dissertation examines the Volksdeutsche (ethnic Germans) of the Serbian Banat (northeastern Serbia) during World War II, with a focus on their collaboration with the invading Germans from the Third Reich, and their participation in the occupation of their home region. It focuses on the occupation period (April 1941-October 1944) so as to illuminate three major themes: the mutual perceptions held by ethnic and Reich Germans and how these shaped policy; the motivation behind ethnic German collaboration; and the events which drew ethnic Germans ever deeper into complicity with the Third Reich. The Banat ethnic Germans profited from a fortuitous meeting of diplomatic, military, ideological and economic reasons, which prompted the Third Reich to occupy their home region in April 1941. They played a leading role in the administration and policing of the Serbian Banat until October 1944, when the Red Army invaded the Banat. The ethnic Germans collaborated with the Nazi regime in many ways: they accepted its worldview as their own, supplied it with food, administrative services and eventually soldiers. They acted as enforcers and executors of its policies, which benefited them as perceived racial and ideological kin to Reich Germans. These policies did so at the expense of the multiethnic Banat's other residents, especially Jews and Serbs. In this, the Third Reich replicated general policy guidelines already implemented inside Germany and elsewhere in German-occupied Europe. The Banat ethnic German collaboration did not derive from external factors alone. Ideological affinity between the ethnic German sense of self and aspects of National Socialist ideology, social dynamics within the ethnic German community, and the material privileges and perks the Reich extended, combined to ensure that ordinary ethnic Germans as well as their leaders proved willing and, even, eager to collaborate. Their collusion in the Reich's discriminatory and murderous policies escalated over time. It culminated in their participation in anti-partisan warfare in Southeast Europe. The bitterness and bad blood engendered by the ethnic Germans' choice to engage fully in policies proclaimed by the Reich resulted in their eventual expulsion and dispossession by the postwar Yugoslav authorities

The comparison of incomes of self-employed and salaried workers among German Nationals and immigrants

This paper attempts to compare the economic success of immigrants and natives in Germany. Employing data from German Socioeconomic Panel, the paper investigates the factors affecting self-employment as well as compares the income of self-employed and employed workers among four groups – West Germans, East Germans, guest workers and ethnic immigrants. Increasing age, higher education and self-employed parents increases probability of an individual’s self-employment, with the last two applying only to West Germans. The self-employed earn more than their salaried counterparts, except for East Germans. Despite self-employed immigrants having the highest earnings of all groups, self-employment rates remain low among immigrants.Entrepreneurship,self-employment,Occupational Choice,immigrants,Wage Differentials

Forced Migration and the Effects of an Integration Policy in Post-WWII Germany.

After World War II, about 8 million ethnic Germans — so called expellees — were forced to leave their homelands and settle within the new borders of West Germany. Subsequently, a law (Federal Expellee Law) was introduced to foster their labor market integration. We evaluate this law by comparing the employment situation between expellees and groups of West Germans and GDR refugees over time. We define our comparison groups to uncover even small effects of the law. Still, we find no evidence that the law met its goal to foster the expellees’ labor market integration