Annekatrin Niebuhr

Institute for Employment Research | IAB · Regional research network

We analyze whether the benefits of work experience that was acquired in denser locations can be explained by the quality of jobs that can be found in agglomerations using administrative data on individual employment biographies of workers in Germany. We find that 79% of the premium for work experience gained in the densest regions can be ascribed t...

Over the past decade, firms’ recruitment problems have increased significantly in Germany. We show that skill shortages have been more pronounced in rural areas and that the gap between rural and urban regions has slightly increased. The intensity of a local skill shortage is linked to regional labour market conditions, the occupational composition...

We estimate the spatially heterogeneous effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic on labor market dynamics in Germany until December 2021. While initially slightly stronger in rural regions and large agglomerations, adverse effects quickly become more pronounced and persistent in large agglomerations compared to all other region types. We as...

Using linked employer-employee data on labor market biographies of workers in Germany, this paper analyzes where valuable work experience is primarily acquired. It distinguishes between learning effects related to firm size and labor market size. We show that wages increase with the size of the cities and establishments in which experience was accu...

Many European regions currently experience a significant population decline and, related to this, are increasingly confronted with labour shortage. Migration is a main driver of changes in regional labour supply and the local level of human capital. A region’s ability to attract residents thus becomes more and more important for its growth prospect...

This paper analyzes how dynamic agglomeration effects differ between foreign and native workers using administrative data on individual employment biographies. According to our results, both groups benefit, on average, equally from gathering work experience in large labor markets. The exception are low-skilled foreign workers, who receive a lower p...

We investigate differences in the mobility behaviour of graduates who completed secondary school in Germany (German, foreign) or abroad (international) and analyse factors that may cause disparities in mobility. Our analysis focuses on job-relevant networks and work experience as they seem to be associated with the area of job search and with migra...

Zusammenfassung der Ergebnisse des Projektes »MobiLä« mit neuen Erkenntnissen über Ab-, Rück- und Zuwanderungen von Arbeitskräften innerhalb Deutschlands.

We investigate if a regional policy shift by the federal state government of Saxony in 2007 enhanced the innovation performance of local SMEs compared to similar firms in other East German regions. From the perspective of innovation policy, the policy shift in Saxony is remarkable for its novel approach to overcome the so-called “valley of death” f...

Ziel dieses Working Papers ist es, die Wissensbasis über die Determinanten von Wanderungsbewegungen von Arbeitskräften zu erweitern. Die Auswertungen wurden im Rahmen des gemeinsamen Forschungsvorhabens „Die räumliche Mobilität von Arbeitskräften im Erwerbsverlauf – Analysen für ländliche Räume in Deutschland“ (MobiLä) des Thünen-Instituts für Länd...

Based on geocoded data, we analyze the level and (co)variation of ethnic diversity and ethnic segregation across large cities in Germany. Overall, our results indicate that the level of ethnic segregation is relatively low in German cities. However, it differs across migrant groups and skill levels. Moreover, there is considerable variation in both...

This paper investigates how important measurement issues such as the modifiable areal unit problem (MAUP), random unevenness and spatial autocorrelation affect cross-sectional studies of ethnic segregation. We use geocoded data for German cities to investigate the impact of these measurement problems on the average level of segregation and on the r...

We examine the effects of agglomeration, differentiating between urbanization and localization economies, on four distinct types of innovation in manufacturing and services. Furthermore, estimating multilevel panel regression models, we investigate the sorting of highly innovative firms into dense urban and/or specialized regions by considering bot...

Administrative social security records and event history analysis are used to investigate the significance of previous work experience for the migration decision of German university graduates. The regression results suggest that work experience gained previously and while studying in the university region reduces the likelihood of graduates out-mi...

The study analyses the impact of workforce composition and employee isolation — based on age, gender and citizenship — on entry wages of new employment relationships in German firms using employer–employee data. We allow for heterogeneous effects across distinct groups of workers and include worker and firm fixed effects to account for selection ef...

Demographic change, immigration, and the increasing labor market participation of women give rise to significant changes in workforce composition and population diversity in many countries. This handbook chapter provides an overview of the literature on the economic effects of population diversity, focusing on the impact of diversity on regional pr...

- english version below - Dieses Working Paper beschreibt die Branchenstruktur von Regionstypen und Regionen in Deutschland. Sein Fokus liegt auf der wirtschaftlichen Spezialisierung ländlicher Räume relativ zur bundesweiten Gesamtwirtschaft. Die Auswertungen wurden im Rahmen des Forschungsvorha-bens "Die räumliche Mobilität von Arbeitskräften im E...

This paper investigates whether the density of local labour markets in Germany impacts on the wage of new employment relationships and whether corresponding urbanization economies differ significantly across distinct types of transitions to employment. The results suggest rather small static urbanization benefits. Doubling employment density increa...

Erhebliche regionale Disparitäten werden in Deutschland von einer Abwanderung aus strukturschwachen Regionen begleitet. Theoretische Modelle liefern keine eindeutigen Aussagen über die Effekte der Wanderung. Empirische Befunde zeigen dagegen, dass die Mobilität zu einem Abbau der Unterschiede beitragen kann. Selektive Wanderungen können Disparitäte...

Der Übergang von der Hochschulausbildung in den Arbeitsmarkt ist für die Erwerbsbiografie der Absolventen von zentraler Bedeutung. Für die Hochschulen ist der Arbeitsmarkterfolg ihrer Absolventen zudem ein wichtiges Erfolgskriterium im Bereich der Lehre. Insgesamt zeigt sich, dass die Absolventen der Kieler Hochschulen sehr erfolgreich den Arbeitsm...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether labour market entry via temporary work has any (persistent) effects on labour market outcomes. Design/methodology/approach Using unique data on several cohorts of graduates from the German apprenticeship system, the authors interpret labour market entry via temporary work agency (TWA) w...

We use administrative social security records and event history methods to investigate graduate migration in Germany. The results indicate that most migration events happen up to seven years after graduation. Work experience gathered before and during the studies influences the migration decision, pointing to the importance of labour market contact...

We analyze how different kinds of innovation affect firms‘ export propensity, finding a positive impact of incremental innovations, whereas radical innovations need more time to affect exporting. Evidence for an isolated impact of process innovations or imitations is not found.

Human capital is a driving factor of innovation and economic growth. Urban economies in particular depend on highly qualified workers; therefore, attracting highly skilled workers is a key factor for cities' economic prospects. We analyze the determinants that influence the migration of highly skilled workers by investigating the migration balance...

Empirical evidence on innovation activity points to both significant disparities in innovation output across regions and important differences in firm innovation rates. These differences suggest that firm characteristics as well as regional factors might impact on innovation. Evidence on the relative importance of the two groups of factors is still...

The labor market effects of the recent financial and economic crisis are rather heterogeneous across countries and regions. Such differences in labor market performance among industrialized countries are an issue of ongoing research. The objective of this article is to analyze labor market disparities among European regions and to provide evidence...

Does regional unemployment increase or rather decrease entrepreneurial activity? Although this question has been hotly debated among researchers for decades, the answers yielded so far are ambiguous and inconclusive. The paper proposes an innovative approach that takes not only interregional differences in unemployment rates, but also in unemployme...

Differences in regional unemployment are still pronounced in Germany, especially between eastern and western Germany. Although the skill level seems important for the relationship between regional disparities and labor migration, corresponding empirical evidence is scarce. Applying dynamic panel models, we investigate the impact of labor mobility d...

Human capital is a driving factor of innovation and economic growth. Economic prospects of cities depend on high qualified workers’ knowledge and therefore, attracting highly qualified workers plays a fundamental role for cities’ prospects. This study contributes to the question which factors primarily determine the mobility-decision of highly qual...

Increasing international labor migration has important effects on the workforce composition of firms in all migrant-receiving countries. The consequences of these changes for firm performance have attracted growing attention in recent years. In this paper, we focus explicitly on the impact of cultural diversity among migrant employees on the innova...

Striking disparities characterise the population growth of cities in industrialised countries. Some cities suffer from ongoing population decline, whereas other cities have experienced increasing numbers of inhabitants in recent years. Whether labour market conditions or amenities via their impact on migration primarily account for differences in c...

This paper examines whether a heterogeneous composition of the workforce affects the performance of organizations. Conflict theoretical arguments speak for a negative impact; resource-oriented approaches see a positive effect of diversity. These considerations are examined for cultural and age diversity with data from the JAB (Institute for Employm...

Zusammenfassung Dieser Beitrag untersucht, ob eine heterogene Zusammensetzung der Belegschaften die Leistungsfähigkeit von Organisationen beeinflusst. Konflikttheoretische Argumentationen sprechen für negative Auswirkungen, ressourcenorientierte Ansätze für positive Effekte von Diversität. Diese Überlegungen werden für kulturelle und altersbezogene...

Analyse des Erwerbseintritts und der frühen Erwerbsphase der Absolventen der Christian-Albrechts-Universität (CAU) zu Kiel im Zeitraum 1998–2010

The responsiveness of unemployment to growth is an issue of ongoing political and academic interest. Economic growth is supposed to be the key to increase labour demand and reduce unemployment. Departing from Okun's law, most research on the unemployment intensity of growth has focused on national disparities and the role of labour market instituti...

Increasing inequality in qualification specific employment prospects characterises labour markets in most highly developed countries. Theoretical models suggest that in-plant skill segregation might matter for the polarisation of employment and wages. According to these models production technology and the educational level of the work force are im...

Zusammenfassung Werden Jugendliche am Ausbildungsende nicht von ihrem Ausbildungsbetrieb übernommen und finden sie auch in einem anderen Betrieb keine Anstellung in einem regulären Beschäftigungsverhältnis, so stellt die Zeitarbeit eine Option zur Integration in das Erwerbssystem dar. Die Beschäftigung in Leiharbeit an der zweiten Schwelle war bisl...

Spain. In the final chapter, Simón Sosvilla-Rivero and José Herce argue that European Aid has benefited Spanish macroeconomic growth by generating employment. These two last chapters show that, while European Aid has boosted the Spanish economy, within-country regional imbalances persist. The book examines European regional economic imbalances from...

This paper considers the effects of temporary work on labor market entry and the subsequent careers of graduates of the vocational training system in Germany (VTS). Departing from Spence’s signaling theory we conjecture that low schooling and bad grades in the final VTS exams contribute to early temping. Early temping is in turn expected to have ne...

Although the process of European integration has facilitated labour mobility in the EU to a considerable extent, cross‐border commuting is still at a low level. We provide evidence on labour mobility in the Danish‐German border region. The objective of this paper is to investigate the recent development of cross‐border commuting in the region and w...

Economic integration in Europe has been accompanied by concerns about the effect of integration on regional disparities in the European Union. This paper investigates the effects of the most recent EU enlargement on convergence among countries and regions in the EU-27. Departing from a new economic geography framework, we focus on integration effec...

Die Untersuchung beschreibt die interregionale Mobilität von Arbeitskräften in Deutschland, wobei sowohl Wandern und Pendeln als auch das Qualifikationsniveau der Beschäftigten berücksichtigt werden. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Arbeitskräftemobilität in Deutschland wesentlich durch die unterschiedlichen Arbeitsmarktbedingungen in Ost- und Westd...

"Differences in regional labour market conditions are still pronounced in Germany, especially between the Eastern and the Western part. Traditional neoclassical models imply that labour mobility should reduce disparities. In contrast, models that include externalities or selective migration suggest that regional differences might well increase due...

In this paper we investigate the determinants of entrepreneurial activity in a cross section of German regions for the period 1998-2005. Departing from the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship, the focus of our analysis is on the role of the regional environment and, in particular, knowledge and cultural diversity. Our main hypothesis is...

This paper provides a survey on studies that analyze the macroeconomic effects of intellectual property rights (IPR). The first part of this paper introduces different patent policy instruments and reviews their effects on R&D and economic growth. This part also discusses the distortionary effects and distributional consequences of IPR protection a...

We investigate the convergence process among EU regions between 1980-2002 taking into account the effects of spatial heterogeneity and spatial spillover effects. The spatial regimes model allows for different steady-state growth paths. In contrast to previous analyses, the regimes in this paper refer to spatial categories, i.e. we assume that agglo...

The enlargement of the EU is supposed to have a profound impact on the location of economic activities in Europe. Although there is concern about the implications of enlargement for regional disparities in the EU, the corresponding empirical results are still rare. The objective of this analysis is to provide evidence on enlargement effects with sp...

We investigate the regional disparities in high-skilled foreign employment in Germany. The importance of different factors that influence highly qualified migrants’ decision to migrate to specific regions and especially the role of labour migration policy is analysed. Our results show that labour market variables and the supply of tertiary educatio...

The responsiveness of labor demand and unemployment to growth is an issue of ongoing political and academic interest. Economic growth is supposed to be the key to increase labor demand and reduce unemployment. Departing from Okun's and Verdoorn's law, most research on the (un)employment intensity of growth has focused on national disparities and th...

A basic result of new economic geography (NEG) models is that the proximity to consumer markets impacts wages and employment within regions. The ongoing process of European integration, being targeted on the reduction of barriers to trade and factor mobility, has presumably changed relative market access in Europe. The present paper aims to provide...

[eng] Transportation costs and monopoly location in presence of regional disparities. . This article aims at analysing the impact of the level of transportation costs on the location choice of a monopolist. We consider two asymmetric regions. The heterogeneity of space lies in both regional incomes and population sizes: the first region is endowed...

Recent theoretical research deals with economic costs and benefits of cultural diversity related to immigration. However, empirical evidence regarding the impact of cultural diversity on economic performance is still scarce. We analyse the effect of cultural diversity of the labour force on patent applications for a cross‐section of German regions....

Im Rahmen der Studie wird die gegenwärtige Situation am Arbeits- und Ausbildungsmarkt für Jüngere in Norddeutschland vor dem Hintergrund der zu erwartenden demographischen Veränderungen analysiert. Im Mittelpunkt stehen dabei die langfristigen Implikationen der gegenwärtigen Lage am Arbeits- und Ausbildungsmarkt. Betrachtet werden die Bundesländer...

Mit dem Projekt 'Vergleichende Analyse von Länderarbeitsmärkten' (VALA) untersucht das IAB die regionalen Unterschiede in der Beschäftigungsentwicklung in den deutschen Bundesländern für den Zeitraum zwischen 1993 und 2001. In der Studie werden die Einflüsse allgemeiner ökonomischer Faktoren wie des Lohnniveaus, der Branchenstruktur, der Qualifikat...

"Border regions are likely to play a critical role within the spatial dynamics initiated by the enlargement of the EU. This paper deals with the effects of integration on labour markets in border regions. Within the framework of different theoretical approaches, the effects of integration on location conditions and labour market disparities along n...

We investigate the convergence process among EU regions between 1980-2002 taking into account the effects of spatial heterogeneity and spatial spillover effects. The spatial regimes model allows for different steady-state growth paths. In contrast to previous analyses, the regimes in this paper refer to spatial categories, i.e. we assume that agglo...

Die bevorstehenden demographischen Veränderungen sind von erheblicher Bedeutung für den Wirtschaftsstandort Deutschland und seine Regionen. Inwieweit ist Norddeutschland betroffen? Welche Arbeitsmarkteffekte sind hier zu erwarten? Wie kann dem Rückgang der Erwerbsbevölkerung entgegengewirkt werden?

The paper is based on recent theoretical writings in growth economics that emphasise the effects of both own research and development efforts and of interregional technology spillovers on regions' productivity. It proposes robust estimation techniques to evaluate the research and development spillovers across West German functional regions between...

New Economic Geography (NEG) has reached a theoretical consolidation while related empirical tests are still scarce. The present paper aims at providing some evidence on the validity of forces emphasised by NEG. The analysis starts from the nominal wage equation derived from the Krugman "core-periphery model" and focuses on one of the main proposit...

A basic result of new economic geography (NEG) models is that the proximity to consumer markets impacts wages and employment within regions. The ongoing process of European integration, being targeted on the reduction of barriers to trade and factor mobility, has presumably changed relative market access in Europe. The present paper aims at providi...

The accession of ten new members in May 2004 means a considerable increase in income disparities in the European Union. At what speed has income converged in the past and what role have changes in trade relations and factor mobility played in this? What projections can be made for the catching-up process of the new member states? And what conclusio...

Für hochentwickelte Industrieländer stellen Investitionen in Forschung und Entwicklung wesentliche Voraussetzungen für Wachstum und Wettbewerbsfähigkeit dar. Die EU Kommission hat daher als Ziel einen Anteil der Ausgaben für Forschung und Entwicklung am Bruttoinlandsprodukt von 3% bis 2010 vorgegeben. Inwieweit kann Deutschland dieses Ziel erreiche...

A basic result of new economic geography models is that the proximity to consumer markets impacts wages and employment within regions. While there is a bulk of theoretical literature on new economic geography related empirical tests are still scarce. The present paper aims at providing some evidence on the validity of the forces emphasised by new e...

Traditionally, EU policies have been focused on economic and social cohesion. Recently, the territorial dimension of regional disparities as an aspect of EU policy has gained importance. The European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP), adopted in 1999, is meant to support a balanced development of the EU territory. Moreover, the European Commis...

The findings of recent studies on adjustment processes suggest that regional labour markets in the EU and the US differ significantly. Low wage flexibility and limited labour mobility in European countries involve persistent unemployment differentials across regions. However, the spatial dimension of regional labour market problems is largely negle...

Border regions and border effects currently attract a lot of attention in political practice and economic research. Substantial interest in regions located along the frontiers of integrating countries is predominantly inspired by the presumption that their specific geographic position might cause peculiarities in economic adjustments to integration...

We study an overlapping generations model of human capital accumulation with threshold effects using regional data for West Germany. Our basic goal is to shed light on what makes German regions grow. The paper finds that the relative income distribution appears to be stratifying into a trimodal distribution. The results of threshold estimates imply...

The findings of recent studies on adjustment processes suggest that regional labour markets in the EU and the US differ significantly. Low wage flexibility and limited labour mobility in European countries involve persistent unemployment differentials across regions. However, the spatial dimension of regional labour market problems is largely negle...

Für die Gemeinschaftsaufgabe Verbesserung der regionalen Wirtschaftsstruktur (GRW) gibt es eine Vielzahl von Untersuchungen zu der Frage, ob und inwieweit die Ziele der Gemeinschaftsaufgabe erreicht wurden und welchen Beitrag dieser Politikbereich dazu geleistet hat. In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden diese Untersuchungen im Überblick dargestellt un...

According to the results of one current report on European regional prospects (ERECO 1997), convergence cannot be expected in Europe. This conclusion is significant for two reasons. Firstly, it belongs to a growing number of recent studies (see Irmen and Blach 1997; Klemmer 1996; Stahl 1997) which give a somewhat pessimistic assessment concerning t...

Since the beginning of the 1990s, the issue of income convergence has received considerable attention in economic research. Although a vast number of empirical studies has emerged, evidence on the role of spatial interaction is still rather scarce. The present paper is an attempt to provide additional information on the spatial aspect of convergenc...

The paper bases itself on recent theoretical writings in growth economics that emphasize the effects of both own R&D efforts and of interregional technology spillovers on regions´ productivity. We propose robust estimation techniques to evaluate the R&D spillovers across West German functional regions during the period 1976 - 1996. The findings...

Die vorliegende Studie beschäftigt sich mit Wachstumsabhängigkeiten zwischen räumlich benachbarten Gebieten in Westdeutschland im Zeitraum von 1976 bis 1996. Die Hypothese für derartige Wachstumsabhängigkeiten leitet sich aus der räumlichen Dimension von Mechanismen ab, denen ein wesentlicher Einfluss auf die regionale Entwicklung beizumessen ist -...

The paper bases itself on recent theoretical writings in growth economics that emphasize the effects of both own R&D efforts and of interregional technology spillovers on regions� productivity. We propose robust estimation techniques to evaluate the R&D spillovers across West German functional regions during the period 1976 - 1996. The findings sug...

"The Joint Task 'Improvement of the Regional Economic Structure' delimits the German promotion areas. For this purpose different indicators reflecting the labor market situation and regional income are linked. So far, no indicator is considered that indicates the demographic change of regions. The Institute for Employment Research was commissioned...