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The IAB Establishment Panel

Questions and Answers | Access to the Data Set | Cooperating Partner Institutes in the Federal States | The IAB Establishment Panel Questionnaires | 30 years of the IAB Establishment Panel

The IAB Establishment Panel is a representative employer survey of employment parameters at individual establishments.

Near to 15,500 establishments (PDF) from all branches of the economy and of all sizes are surveyed annually and nationwide from the end of June until October. The survey is carried out orally by way of personal interviews conducted by Kantar Public Germany (formerly: TNS Infratest Sozialforschung), Munich, on behalf of the Institute for Employment Research (IAB). This representative survey of establishments covers a wide range of questions on a great many topics related to employment policy that are examined in various research projects.

The standard annual programme of questions is complemented by topics of current interest. The IAB Establishment Panel has been in existence in western Germany since 1993 and in the east since 1996. As a comprehensive longitudinal data set, it forms the basis for research into the demand side of the labour market.

The data provided by establishments is intended to help the placement and advisory services of the Federal Employment Agency orientate their activities more closely to the realities experienced within the establishments themselves. The analyses also provide the basis for the decision-making processes of politicians, management/labour representatives, and various associations.

The figure shows how the number of establishments surveyed in the IAB Establishment Panel has developed in the period from 1993 to 2022. From 1993 to 1995, initially around 4,000 establishments in West Germany were interviewed, before in 1996 East German establishments were added to the sample. Thus the sample size rose to 8,342 in 1996 up to 9.762 in 1999. Due to the co-financing of the western federal states from 2000 onwards, the sample size doubled in West Germany. Since 2001, round about 9,000 establishments have been annually interviewed in West Germany and about 6,000 establishments in East Germany, i.e. between 15,500 and 16,000 establishments in total.
Number of interviewed establishments from 1993 to 2021 in Germany
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Publications and projekts from Establishment-Panel (German Language)

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