Beschreibung

"Despite extensive research on the integration paradox, its behavioral consequences remain largely unexamined. Although integration is expected to foster long-term settlement, structurally integrated migrants often report heightened discrimination. We argue that these experiences increase aspirations to leave, but their translation into migration plans depends on migrants’ capabilities. Building on an aspirations–capabilities framework, we conceptualize education as a key determinant of migration capabilities distinguishing between absolute and relative education. Absolute education captures skill transferability across destinations, whereas relative education reflects migrants’ position within the origin-country distribution and associated status expectations. We further argue that return and onward migration follow distinct evaluative logics: return is shaped by relative status considerations vis-à-vis the origin country, while onward migration reflects perceived skill transferability in alternative destinations. Using data from the International Mobility Panel of Migrants (IMPa), a large-scale survey of immigrants in Germany (N=41,600), we show migrants with higher absolute education are more likely to respond to alienation by planning onward migration. Contrary to our expectations, higher relative education is also associated with increased onward migration, while those with lower relative education are more likely to consider return." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))