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SoKo analysis for the first half of 2016 ,
Participation in the labour market is one of the most important aspects of integration. Background information on the level of qualifications of asylum applicants in Germany is vital in order to be able to targetedly assess the potential as well as the needs and corresponding planning for promotional measures.
Brief analysis 4/2016 evaluates the data from the Social Component ("SoKo" data) and provides information regarding the social structure (gender, age, civil status and native language), as well as on schooling and the occupation most recently exercised by adult first-time asylum applicants in the first half of 2016. In this sense, it constitutes an update of the results of the BAMF’s Brief analysis 3/2016, which appeared in May.
New findings
The BAMF’s fourth Brief analysis demonstrates for the first time what the respondents’ state of schooling is in individual professional fields. Accordingly, persons who most recently worked as an engineer or teacher, or in the medical field, have the highest level of schooling on average, but also smaller numbers of them immigrate than persons from other professional fields. Roughly 60 percent of those who most recently worked in agriculture have completed primary school at most.
The share of women among applicants has grown vis-à-vis 2015. Particularly among asylum applicants from Syria, the share of women has increased by almost ten percentage points. But there were also considerably more women among Iraqi and Afghan applicants in the first half of 2016 than in the previous year.
Almost 40 percent of respondents were either university graduates or had completed grammar school, whilst applicants from Syria and Iran once more had the highest level of schooling. Roughly 30 percent had completed primary school at most. These values are roughly equivalent to those of the previous year.
Collecting the data
With the aid of an interpreter, the Federal Office collects both the basic data during the application procedure such as sex, age, civil status and native language, on a voluntary basis, as well as data on schooling and the occupation most recently exercised. More than 80 percent of all adult asylum applicants answered the questions on their qualifications in the first half of 2016. Although the information is provided voluntarily, and no documentation therefore 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 a first insight into the qualification structure of displaced persons.
The Brief analysis was drawn up by: Dr. Matthias Neske and Anna-Katharina Rich.
This brief analysis is only available in German.