German Emigration and Remigration Panel Study (GERPS) 2018

Objective:
The German Emigration and Remigration Panel Study (GERPS) is the data base developed within the project “Individuelle Konsequenzen internationaler Migration im Lebensverlauf” funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) (project number 345626236). GERPS follows an origin-based sampling approach which allows to study individual consequences of international migrations form a life-course perspective. Apart the migration process and the sociodemographic attributes of international mobiles, the objective of GERPS is to conduct longitudinal data across the four following life domains: Employment and Income, Family and Partnership, Health and Well-being, and Social Networks and Participation.

Method:
The study design of GERPS exploits information from German registers within a multistage stratified probability sample of emigrants and remigrants with German citizenship aged between 20 and 70 with a documented international migration between July 2017 and June 2018. Currently GERPS is comprising four waves covering a period of 24 months. The first wave started in November 2018 and ended in February 2019. The second wave started in May 2019, six months after the beginning of wave 1. The third wave started in November 2019 and ended in January 2020, six months after the beginning of wave 2. The fourth wave is scheduled for November 2020. Wave 1 includes information about 4.545 emigrants and 6.465 remigrants.

Analytical potential & Questionnaire:
The research design complements traditional immigrant surveys conducted in major destination countries by surveying emigrants and remigrants from the perspective of the country of origin. The origin-based sampling approach has at least three major advantages compared to traditional approaches where samples are drawn from immigrants in their destination countries: First, it enables comparative studies of emigrants in various destination countries and of remigrants returning from different destination countries. Second, as GERPS is organized as SOEP-related study, the research design enables comparisons of the internationally mobile population with non-migrants staying in the country of origin by drawing on the German Socioeconomic Panel (SOEP). Third, the research design allows comparative studies on emigrants and remigrants, providing the opportunity to analyse consequences of international migration from at least two perspectives – shortly after emigration and shortly after return.
Each wave of GERPS covers questions on German migrant’s current living situation in the different areas of life, gradually enabling researchers to draw a picture of survey participants’ life course with every further wave. Additionally, each wave has its own focus: The first wave covers migration motives and the situation shortly before migration. This enables the realization of a hypothetical fifth retrospective measurement point, allowing researchers to reflect on causes and consequences of international migration right from the beginning. The second wave concentrates on income, labour market integration, and social background. The third wave covers in particular social and family relationships. The fourth wave will be supplemented by an open module.

The present study comprises the data for the first wave providing the baseline survey.<br>Contact with people in the country before the stay abroad (close relatives, further relatives, work colleagues or other friends and acquaintances); reasons for leaving Germany (e.g. own professional reasons or professional reasons of the partner, family reasons, financial reasons, etc.); ease of finding one´s way around after migration.

Life situation three months before moving away from Germany: steady partnership before migration; continuation of the partnership beyond the move abroad; driving force for migration; partner who emigrated first or joint move; household size before migration; language skills: language other than German in the country of migration; self-assessment of knowledge of the language of the country of migration.

Employment before leaving Germany: self-employed persons: sector; number of employees; dependent employees and civil servants: sector; agreed and actual number of hours per week before migration; supervisor function; number of persons with authority to issue instructions.

Previous and planned future stays abroad: planned time in the country of migration within the next 12 months; planned time in Germany within the next 12 months; planned duration of the stay abroad; planned duration of stay in the country of migration in years; total duration of stay abroad.

Previous longer-term stays abroad: number of previous longer stays abroad; last longer stay abroad also in the current country of residence or in another country.

Future plans to go abroad: consideration of re-migration abroad, duration and location of re-migration; intention to move abroad again within the next 12 months; reasons for re-migration abroad.

Leaving the current country of residence or returning to Germany: consideration of moving to Germany or another country; country of intended migration (back to Germany, to another country); reasons for re-migration to Germany.

Current life situation: steady partnership; household size; place of residence (in the same house/flat as before leaving Germany, same place but different apartment, different place but in the same federal state, in a different federal state than before leaving); contacts with friends and relatives: Total number of close friends; number of close friends in Germany, in the current country of migration and in another country (in each case emigrants and re-migrants); frequency of contact with relatives and friends in Germany: (spouse) partner, parents, parents-in-law, siblings, children, grandchildren, grandparents, other relatives and close friends; comparison of the current personal situation in selected areas of life with that prior to leaving Germany (family life, circle of friends and acquaintances, health, residential area, neighbourhood contacts).

Current employment situation:
Dependent employees and civil servants: sector; agreed and actual number of hours per week; activity corresponds to the learned profession; same employer as in Germany, subsidiary of the last employer in Germany or completely different employer than in Germany; secondment by the employer; fixed-term employment relationship; supervisor function; number of persons for whom authority exists; number of employees in the company as a whole; comparison of the professional situation with that before leaving Germany in terms of wages, promotion opportunities, job security and decision-making powers.

Self-employed persons: sector; number of employees; activity corresponds to the profession learned; comparison of the occupational situation with that prior to leaving Germany in terms of earning opportunities, support from authorities and entrepreneurial framework conditions.

Non-employed persons: already employed in the country of migration; intended future employment; intended time of employment; assessment of the chances of finding a suitable job; comparison of the personal situation with that before leaving Germany in terms of chances of finding a job, finding a job suitable for the training, and security as a non-employed person.

Retired persons: receiving pension payments; reasons for retirement (e.g. reaching the legal age limit, etc.); gainful employment in the context of a secondary occupation; reasons for gainful employment; reasons for desired employment; reasons against gainful employment in retirement.
Current financial situation: assessment of the current household income; comparison of the financial situation with that prior to leaving Germany in terms of standard of living, personal income and household income

General questions about the person: sex; Germany as place of birth; time of moving to Germany; German citizenship; acquisition of German citizenship; school-leaving certificate; school-leaving certificate acquired in Germany; stay abroad during schooling; completed vocational training or studies; type of completion of vocational training or studies; completion of vocational training or studies in Germany; stay abroad during studies or during training; language other than German in the country of migration; self-assessment of knowledge of the language of the country of migration.

Information about the partner: completed vocational training or studies; type of completion of vocational training or studies; gainful employment.

Attitudes, personality and well-being: self-assessment of the state of health; agreement with statements about self-determination (how my life is going to run depends on myself, success has to be worked hard for, often the experience that others determine my life, what one achieves in life is primarily a question of fate or luck); social isolation (lacking the company of others, being left out, being socially isolated); sense of belonging: attachment to: the community in the current country of migration, the current country of migration, the community of origin or Community in Germany, the community in the current country of migration, the current country of migration, Germany and with the European Union; self-assessment of the willingness to take risks; general life satisfaction.

Derived variables: sex; partner indicator before migration and currently; marital status before migration and currently; partner status during migration; household status before migration, currently and after migration; partner in household: age of partner before migration and currently; before migration and after migration children in household under 6, from 6 to under 12, from 12 to under 17; age of youngest child in household before migration and after migration; change in household composition; education: Classification according to ISCED 11 and Casmin; highest school leaving degree; highest vocational and college degree of the respondent and partner; flag variables; birth in Germany; migration background; employment status before migration and currently; current employment status of partner; hours worked per week according to employment contract and actually worked; contractual and actual hours worked (full-time, part-time); ISEI 08 and SIOPS 88 before migration and after migration; region; weighting factors wave 1; residence status; ISCO 08; KLDB 2010 after migration; year of birth (classified); monthly net wage; monthly gross wage; country of birth of father and mother (country of migration, other country); date of interview.

Additionally coded: respondent ID; sample (emigrant with foreign address, emigrant with German address, returning emigrant); year and month of interview; number of days between emigration and interview); survey method (online, PAPI); current migration status (emigrant/returning emigrant); total duration of stay abroad; time limit of stay abroad.