Objective: This paper draws on data from the Microcensus to provide a long-term overview of the labor market performance of different arrival cohorts of female and male migrants to Germany.
Background: Whereas there is a large body of research on the labor market outcomes of migrants to Germany, a more descriptive long-term and gender-specific overview is missing.
Method: We provide descriptive analyses for the employment rates, working hours, and occupational status levels of different arrival cohorts by gender, calendar year, and duration of stay. The data cover the time period 1976-2015.
Results: With the exception of the earliest cohort, migrant women and men have been consistently less likely to be employed than their German counterparts. While the average working hours of migrant women of earlier cohorts were longer than those of German women, the average working hours of migrant women declined considerably across subsequent cohorts. The occupational status levels of female and male migrants have increased across arrival cohorts, corresponding to increasing levels of education. Analyses by duration of stay indicate that the occupational status of arrival cohorts have tended to decline during their initial years of residence and then to stagnate thereafter, which may be due in part to selective outmigration and the naturalization of migrants with higher skill levels.
Conclusion: Our results clearly show that the labor market performance of immigrants has varied greatly by arrival cohort, reflecting the conditions and policy contexts during which they entered Germany. This conclusion applies to both genders, but especially to women.