What determines the duration of stay of immigrants in Germany? Evidence from a longitudinal duration analysis
International Journal of Social Economics
ISSN: 0306-8293
Article publication date: 26 September 2008
Abstract
Purpose
Because of the increasing importance of immigration for Germany due to the ageing population and the lack of highly skilled in some industries, the purpose of this paper is to analyse the return‐migration of German immigrants.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses the German Socio‐economic Panel to conduct an event‐history analysis of return‐migration.
Findings
The analysis reveals that return migration is heavily influenced by country of origin. Individuals from countries with free labour movement agreements with Germany show a considerably higher likelihood of leaving Germany relative to the other countries. The main finding is, with respect to the self‐selection process, that highly skilled are more likely to remigrate than those who are less skilled. In addition, the results give substantial information considering the design of German immigration policy.
Originality/value
This paper conducts the first remigration analysis using the Cox proportional hazard model with years of residence as waiting time. Using the latest data, with respect to qualification, a positive self‐selection of remigrants was found.
Keywords
Citation
Gundel, S. and Peters, H. (2008), "What determines the duration of stay of immigrants in Germany? Evidence from a longitudinal duration analysis", International Journal of Social Economics, Vol. 35 No. 11, pp. 769-782. https://doi.org/10.1108/03068290810905414
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2008, Emerald Group Publishing Limited