Publications of the Research Unit Labour Markets and Social Insurance

  1. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 20-049 // 2020

    Transitions from Lower Track Secondary Schools into Vocational Training: Does a Detour Pay Off?

    This paper analyzes the effect of alternative transition paths after grade 9 of German lower secondary school on vocational training. Using a selection-on-observables approach I show that a delayed transition…

  2. ZEW expert brief No. 20-13 // 2020

    Rethinking Schooling

    School closures are one of the measures taken to combat COVID-19. By restricting social contact, closures contribute to the containment of infection chains. However, such measures have side effects that…

  3. Expertises // 2020

    Evaluation des Bundesprogramms Soziale Teilhabe am Arbeitsmarkt. Fünfter Bericht - Wirkungen nach Programmende

    The Federal Programme "Social Inclusion in the Labour Market" aimed to improve the social inclusion of long-term benefit recipients of the SGB II who were far from the labour market and who either lived with…

  4. ZEW policy brief No. 20-05 // 2020

    COVID-19 and Inequality

    The COVID-19 pandemic and the socially distanced economy reveal longstanding inequalities that have been growing wider and wider for decades. This Policy Brief summarizes and contextualizes some of the main…

  5. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 20-044 // 2020

    The Effect of Early Childhood Education and Care Services on the Social Integration of Refugee Families

    Devising appropriate policy measures for the integration of refugees is high on the agenda of many governments. This paper focuses on the social integration of families seeking asylum in Germany between 2013 and…

  6. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 20-042 // 2020

    When the Minimum Wage Really Bites Hard: Impact on Top Earners and Skill Supply

    We investigate minimum wage spillovers by exploiting the first-time introduction of a minimum wage within a quasi-experiment in a context with an extraordinary large bite: the German roofing industry. We find…

  7. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 20-040 // 2020

    Dismissal Protection and Long-term Sickness Absence – First Evidence from Germany

    This paper analyses the causal effects of weaker dismissal protection on the incidence of long-term sickness (> six weeks). We exploit a German policy change, which shifted the threshold exempting small…