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SoKo analysis for 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 2/2017 evaluates both the data from the Business Statistics on Asylum and the database on 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 on the occupation most recently exercised by first-time adult asylum applicants in 2016. In this sense, it constitutes an update of the results of the BAMF's Brief analysis 4/2016.
New findings
The BAMF's eighth Brief analysis demonstrates what the respondents’ state of schooling is in individual professional fields.
Roughly one asylum applicant in ten in 2016 most recently worked in the craft trade sector in their country of origin. This made it the most important sector of activity, followed by services and ancillary activities. Women worked in these areas much less frequently, whilst they had much more often been most recently involved in teaching.
The highest average level of education was held by the more than 11,000 applicants whose most recent activity had been in the category "Teaching professions". The lowest level of education had been enjoyed by those respondents who had been most recently engaged in farming, as ancillary workers or in construction. The more than 35,000 individuals who had most recently been in the craft trade sector also had a below-average level of education.
The largest number of respondents, at 31.1 percent, stated that the highest educational facility which they had attended was a "middle school". This was followed by grammar school and elementary school, at 21.5 and 20.5 percent respectively. 11.3 percent had had no formal schooling, and 15.5 percent were graduates. More women than men had had no formal schooling.
Most adult asylum applicants in 2016 came from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, and were aged between 18 and 29; almost 70 percent were men. The share of women has risen by 4.5 percentage points as against 2015. The share of women increased faster than average among both Syrian and Iraqi nationals, at more than 10 percentage points in each case, but there were also more women than in the previous year among applicants from Afghanistan.
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 on occupation most recently exercised. Roughly 80 percent of all adult asylum applicants answered the questions on their qualifications in 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 is only available in German.
The Brief analysis was drawn up by: Dr. Matthias Neske