SoKo analysis for the first half of 2018 , Date: 2019.03.20, format: brief analysis, area: Authority

Brief analysis 3|2019 evaluates data from asylum statistics as well as from the "Social Component" (SoKo). The underlying survey, which is carried out within the asylum application process, provides insights into the social structure (gender, age, civil status), school attendance and the most recent occupation of adult first-time adult asylum applicants in the first half of 2018. The Brief analysis thus continues the results of the BAMF's Brief analysis 3|2018.

Participation in the labour market is one of the most important aspects of integration. Background information on the qualification level of asylum applicants in Germany is of great importance in order to be able to make a targeted assessment of their potential, but also of their needs and corresponding plans for support measures.

Key findings of the Brief analysis

• Approximately 43,000 adults filed a first asylum application in Germany in the first half of 2018. When submitting their applications, roughly three-quarters of them provided information on school attendance and on their most recent occupation.
• Refugees from Syria made up the largest group with more than 7,000 people, followed by people from Nigeria (just under 4,000) and Iraq (around 3,700). About half (roughly 52 percent) of adult asylum-seekers were aged from 18 to 29, almost half (roughly 48 percent) were single, and approximately 60 percent were men. The proportion of women has risen by 3.5 percentage points compared with 2017 as a whole.
• 31 percent of respondents named a secondary school as the highest educational institution that they had attended, followed by a grammar school with 20 percent. Around 19 percent had attended a primary school or university.
• 11 percent had not received any formal schooling. Women had been to school less often than men.
• In relation to the ten main countries of origin, applicants from Iran have the highest level of education by comparison, and applicants from Somalia have the lowest. Applicants from Turkey also have a relatively high qualification level.
• Approximately one-third of adult asylum-seekers have not been in paid employment recently.
• Most of those who were employed worked in craft trades, carried out ancillary activities (including factory and warehouse work), or were working in the services sector.

Collecting the data

With the aid of a specialist interpreter, the Federal Office collects both the basic data during the initial application for asylum such as sex, age, civil status and native language, and also collects data on schooling and on the occupation most recently exercised. Roughly three-quarters of all adult asylum applicants answered the questions on their qualifications in the first half of 2018. Although no documentation needs to be provided, as well as given the fact that it is difficult to compare the school and occupation systems of the various countries of origin with the respective German systems, the "SoKo" data nonetheless provide good a first insight into the qualification structure of displaced persons.

The Brief analysis is only available in German.

The Brief analysis was drawn up by: Barbara Heß

This download is available in other languages, too.

• SoKo-Analyse für das Halbjahr 2018 (German)