Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung

Socio-demographic characteristics:
artificial individual ID; gender; year of birth; age; marital status; number of children living in and outside the household; nationality; country of origin and migration background; school and vocational qualification (incl. generated scales: CASMIN, ISCED-97, number of years of schooling and vocational training); school and vocational qualification of parents; health indicators; religious denomination; social contacts; child care and children’s school attendance; household income (incl. income components and household income based on needs-adjusted equivalence scales); basic information on assets and liabilities; household equipment (deprivation index); residence and residential environment; details on retirement provisions (only wave 3) and child care (only wave 4)

Employment-related characteristics:
Status of employment/ unemployment; mini-job; working hours; occupational status (detailed); occupation (ISCO-88 und KldB-92); ISCO-based measures of occupational status and prestige (ISEI, SIOPS, MPS, EGP, ESeC); income from employment (gross & net);Employment Biography with Employment/Unemployment episodes and periods of Non-Employment since 01/2005 (since Wave 2);  start date of current employment; fixed-term employment; supervisory function; employer: public service/private industry; employer: number of employees; other employment; detailed information on the employment search status; reservation wage

Benefit-related characteristics:
Unemployment Benefit I: start and end date of the benefit episodes since 01/2005 (only Wave 1); Information to Unemployment Benefit I episodes within registered Unemployment since 01/2005 (since Wave 2); amount of benefit per month; reason for end of recipiency
Unemployment Benefit II: start and end date of the benefit episode since 01/2005; reason for end of recipiency; identification of household members receiving benefits; total amount of benefits per month; benefit cuts (start date, duration, reasons);
Participation in measures: type of measure; start and end date of measure; indicator of dropout; reasons for dropout; type of access to measure; assessment of measure; working hours in measure; comparison to regular employment; branch
Contacts with the authorities responsible for Unemployment Benefit II: number and nature of contacts; topics discussed; proposals; personal action plan (Eingliederungsvereinbarung); assessment of the authorities by the respondent

Subjective indicators:
Contentment; fears and problems; employment orientation; goals for children’s education; gender role orientation; subjective social position (top-bottom scale); subjective assessment of health state

Wave 1:
Sample I: 9,386 individuals (living in 6,804 households)
Sample II: 9,568 individuals (living in 5,990 households)
Wave 2:
Sample I: 4,753 individuals (living in 3,491 households)
Sample II: 6,392 individuals (living in 3,897 households)
Sample III: 1,342 individuals (living in 1,041 households)
Wave 3:
Sample I: 4.913 individuals (living in 3.754 households)
Sample II: 6.207 individuals (living in 3.901 households)
Sample III: 898 individuals (living in 694 households)
Sample IV: 1.421 individuals (living in 1.186 households)
Wave 4:
Sample I: 3.958 individuals (living in 2.815 households)
Sample II: 5.016 individuals (living in 2.977 households)
Sample III: 786 individuals (living in 563 households)
Sample IV: 983 individuals (living in 745 households)
Sample V: 1.025 individuals (living in 748 households)

1st wave 2006/2007
2nd wave 2007/2008
3rd wave 2008/2009
4th wave 2009/2010

Two-stage random sample including two partial populations
1st stage: selection of 300 postal code areas serving as primary sampling unit (PSU) for both partial samples. The sampling probability of the postal code areas depended on the particular area size in terms of number of residents (probability proportional to size/pps).

2nd stage, sample I: Benefit units with receipt of Unemployment Benefit II in July 2006 were drawn from register data of the Federal Employment Agency. The size of the gross sample per PSU was dependent on the PSU size in terms of the relative proportion of benefit recipients within each postal code area (probability proportional to size/pps). The gross sample comprised an average number of N=100 per postal code area.

2nd stage, sample II: at first, a residential buildings sample was drawn from a commercial database stratified according to a stratification index provided with the database at a ratio of 4:2:1, thus identifying households with a low, medium or high status. Interviewers of the surveying institute visited the selected buildings. In the event that the building accommodated several households, one was picked out by the institute, which was later interviewed. The gross sample comprised N=100 households per postal code area.

1st Refreshment for sample I in wave 2 (sampe III):
The samples drawn in wave 1 were continued in wave 2. Additionally, sample I was refreshed in wave 2. For that purpose the refreshment sample III was drawn from register data of the Federal Employment Agency. For the refreshment sample, households were drawn  which were in receipt of Unemployment Benefit II in July 2007 but not in July 2006 – that is new transitions into receipt of Unemployment Benefit II. Thes new households were drawn using the same process and PSUs as in wave 1.

2nd Refreshment for sample I in wave 3 (sample IV):
As in wave 2 a refreshment sample for samples I and III was drawn in wave 3 from register data of the Federal Employment Agency. For the refreshment sample, households were drawn which were in receipt of Unemployment Benefit II in July 2008 but not in July 2007 or July 2006 – that is new transitions into receipt of Unemployment Benefit II. These new households were drawn using the same process and PSUs as in wave 1.

3rd Refreshment for sample I in wave 4 (sample V):
As in the waves before a refreshment sample for samples I and III was drawn in wave 4 from register data of the Federal Employment Agency. For the refreshment sample, households were drawn which were in receipt of Unemployment Benefit II in July 2009 but not in July 2006, July 2007 or July 2008 – that is new transitions into receipt of Unemployment Benefit II. These new households were drawn using the same process and PSUs as in wave 1.