Abstract

The IAB-BAMF-SOEP Refugee Sample is a cooperation project of the IAB, the SOEP at DIW Berlin and the Research Center of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF-FZ). It is a survey of recently arrived asylum seekers in Germany regarding their socio-economic attributes, their schooling, their flight routes and experience as well as their past and current living conditions, their labor market experience and their values regarding various sociopolitical issues (democracy, religion, gender equality). The first wave of this survey has been conducted in 2016 and covers 4,816 adult refugees, who arrived in Germany since 2013.

The Refugee Sample has been drawn from the Central Register of Foreigners (AZR) of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF). It is a representative survey for the refugees, who arrived in Germany between 1.1.2013 and 31.1.2016 and were registered as asylum seekers by the end of June 2016. The design of the sample follows a longitudinal structure, whereby asylum seekers from countries with a good prospect of staying in Germany at the time of the sampling (i.e. Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria) have been oversampled. In addition, the oversampling has also been applied to women and persons aged over 30. These disproportions are taken into account by means of appropriate weighting methods, so that the results can always be interpreted as representative findings.