A new publication from our team!

What is the study about?
When couples move abroad together, one person is usually the driving force (“lead migrant”), while the other person might not have emigrated if they had been single. These “tied migrants” often face particular challenges in the new labor market.

Using data from the German Emigration and Remigration Panel Study (GERPS), the research team examined how these migration patterns affect the likelihood of overqualification and subjective job satisfaction.

An overview of the key findings:

• Risk of overqualification: “Tied migrants” are more likely to hold positions that fall below their actual qualification level.
• Differences in job satisfaction: On average, they also report lower job satisfaction.
• Complex Causes: Interestingly, the lower satisfaction is hardly due to overqualification itself—suggesting that other factors play a role.
• Trends over Time: Job satisfaction among “lead migrants” declines more rapidly over time than among “tied migrants.” This suggests that the negative effects of tied migration may diminish over time—a hypothesis that would need to be tested over a longer period.

The study impressively demonstrates how important it is to consider both objective and subjective indicators when researching migration and labor market integration in the context of partnerships.

Dear Birgit, congratulations on this publication and on the great collaboration within the team of authors!

Click here to go directly to the open-access article: https://rdcu.be/fyruv