Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung

Sample of Integrated Labour Market Biographies (SIAB)

The Sample of Integrated Labour Market Biographies (SIAB) is a 2 percent random sample drawn from the Integrated Employment Biographies (IEB) of the Institute for Employment Research (IAB). The IEB consist of all individuals in Germany, which are characterized by at least one of the following employment status:

• employment subject to social security (in the data since 1975)
• marginal part-time employment (in the data since 1999)
• benefit receipt according to the German Social Code III or II (SGB III since 1975, SGB II since 2005)
• officially registered as job-seeking at the German Federal Employment Agency
• (planned) participation in programs of active labour market policies (in the data since 2000)

These information stemming from different data sources are consolidated in the IEB. Each employment status is represented on a daily basis. Except for the (planned) participation in programs of active labour market policies, the weakly anonymous version (SIAB 7510) as well as the Scientific Use File (SIAB Regional File 7508) include all types of data sources mentioned above in their current versions.

Both data sets replaces the different versions of the IAB Employment Sample (IABS) and the Integrated Employment Biographies Sample (IEBS). The SIAB data sets combine the advantages of the IABS – a long observation period– with the advantages of the IEBS in terms of complete employment biographies.