Abstract

In this study the careers of 1.500 recipients of the German governments Green Card Initiative of the years 2000 - 2004 are analysed. By the end of 2010, the end of the observation period, over 50 percent were still in Germany, 75 percent of them gainfully employed throughout. From further sequence and cluster analyses it is also evident that a sizable portion of those Green Card recipients who stayed in Germany has interrupted and fragmented work careers. In addition, the effects of both the dotcom and financial crises on the careers of Green Card recipients in Germany are clearly visible: In one cluster the majority of careers (85 %) abruptly end in 2003 or 2004, in another cluster (50 %) in 2008 or 2009. Obviously employment gains from initiatives like the German Green card are vulnerable with regards to external shocks because companies cannot afford to keep these arrangements in times of a recession. The disappearance of a considerable portion of the Green Card workforce during the dotcom and financial crisis also lends support to the notion that the human capital at-tracted to Germany by the program is in demand and mobile on an international level and therefore also transient.