Prof. Stephan Brunow (p), Dr Michaela Fuchs

In Germany, about 5 percent of all employees, working subject to social security contributions, hold a management position. Focussing on foreigners, that proportion is relatively lower, giving concerns of frictions. Relative to natives, differences in qualification and skills, language-related issues, discrimination and glass ceiling may hinder foreigners to achieve management positions. However, we observe foreigners holding management positions. So, the question is, in which characteristics these foreign managers differ from Germans in management positions?
From a firm-management perspective foreigners bring in other skills and qualifications, different problem-solving abilities and approaches to address problems that need to be solved. From a profit-maximisation point of view, foreigners may have less bargaining power and accept lower wages. These arguments might be in favour of hiring foreigners and potential gains of the emerging cultural diversity may be capitalized. On the other hand, language barriers, cultural conflicts etc. might be less beneficial for firms and therefore, foreigners are not hired.
These arguments are not necessarily in favour of holding a management position. In this paper, the focus is set on differences in characteristics of acting managers with respect to being a foreigner or a native. Our underlying hypothesis is build on language barriers, that firms may overcome to promote a foreigner, who speaks both languages – the foreign one and German. Although we cannot measure the power of speech (in German), we hypothesize that if there is an increasing share of workers of a specific nationality in a specific 3-digit occupation the likelihood to observe a manager with the same nationality increases. The manager may act as a language transmitter and therefore mitigates language barriers within the firm.
Because the presence of foreigners is skewed towards metropolitan areas, into specific occupations and industries, we control for vast sorting-related characteristics, individual characteristics, and firm characteristics. The sample considers a Panel of managers from 2012-2023 and we explain of being a foreigner or German manager. Based on a logit model and after controlling for statistical “artefacts” (i.e. with a higher share of foreigners in the firm, the likelihood observing a foreigner in a management position increases) we can support the hypothesis. The foreign managers differ in qualification, i.e. they are on average less qualified, giving additional support for language-related channel. Even more, the evidence suggests that foreigners work more frequently in supervision positions and less frequently in the top management.

Prof. Alessandra Faggian, Prof. Alessandra Michelangeli, Dr. Kateryna Tkach (p)

International migration is often a self-reinforcing process since migrant networks create persistent “beaten paths” linking specific origin and destination countries. While this process is well documented for voluntary migration, much less is known about whether similar mechanisms take place in case of forced migration, especially at subnational level. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to analyse the within-country primary allocation of forced migrants and study the role of network effects for such spatial patterns. To do so, we focus on Ukrainian refugees who were not restricted by government-led allocation policies and could choose their place of residence. By using the administrative data on Ukrainian refugees and immigrants’ location at province (NUTS 3) level, we show that subnational geographies of these two groups are related but do not fully coincide. Refugees preferred to settle in some provinces of Northern and Central Italy, while being relatively less attracted by large metropolitan areas and some provinces in Southern Italy with a sizeable Ukrainian immigrant community. Thus, the “beaten path” feature of voluntary migration seems to be only partially reflected in the forced migration context. By further investigating this phenomenon with the primarily collected data, we confirm that refugees’ allocation is a complex decision-making process. In addition to network-related motives, such factors as job opportunities, study-related purposes, and safety considerations also play a role.

Dr. Michaela Fuchs (p), Georg Sieglen

Over the last 10 years, a large number of refugees has arrived in Germany. While the primary task of the asylum system is to provide protection from war, persecution, and displacement, integration into the labor market is also very important. If the refugees get a job, they might contribute to overall economic production, taxes, and social security contributions, while at the same time lowering the fiscal burden from transfer payments. In addition, refugees might help reduce labor shortages that are reported in many economic sectors. However, to become integrated into the labor market in a sustainable manner, a number of obstacles like language skills, but also housing and childcare issues have to be overcome in advance. Moreover, the labor market situation as well as the qualification and occupational structure of labor demand in a region play a role. Restrictions in mobility and in selecting the region of living together with regional differences in the attractiveness of regions can have an impact on the success of refugees’ integration into the labor market.
The present paper provides novel insights into the labor market integration process of refugees in Germany by specifically taking on a regional perspective. While for Germany as a whole, there is a growing body of evidence based mainly on survey data, evidence on a spatially more disaggregated level is still sparse. We utilize comprehensive administrative data at the individual level on a daily basis from the Institute of Employment Research (IAB). The Integrated Employment Biographies (IEB) enable to analyze labor market trajectories covering spells of unemployment, the participation in labor market programs, vocational training, or employment at a disaggregated spatial level. We consider individuals who have been in contact with an employment agency or job centre and who were recorded as entering Germany for the first time between 2015 and 2019. We trace their labor market trajectories until 2024, from their arrival in Germany until they find employment or vocational training. Event history analyses are used to econometrically examine the relationship between selected individual and regional characteristics and the time taken to find employment subject to social insurance contributions or a dual vocational training programme. The results for employment uptake are then compared with labor shortages in the respective occupations, regions and years. In all analyses, we explicitly differentiate between men and women, as the two sexes show profound differences in labor market success.

Prof. José Manuel Gómez Giménez (p)

Many European regions are facing profound demographic change, characterised by population ageing, labour shortages and increasing territorial disparities between metropolitan cores and peripheral rural areas. In Southern Europe, and particularly in Spain, long-standing patterns of rural depopulation have generated structurally fragile territories with shrinking labour markets, declining service provision and limited demographic renewal. Yet, the period 2021–2025 reveals emerging migration dynamics that challenge the narrative of irreversible rural decline in some of the most remote municipalities.
This paper examines the social profiles and regional impacts of new residents settling in remote rural Spain during this recent period. The analysis focuses on identifying the groups contributing to these population changes and assessing their differentiated effects on demographic sustainability across highly peripheral territories.
The study relies on quantitative analysis of municipal-level demographic data from official statistics, including annual population registers and residential mobility records. Special attention is paid to age structure, nationality, and spatial patterns of settlement across different degrees of rural isolation. By comparing recent population trends with long-term historical trajectories, the paper evaluates whether observed gains represent temporary fluctuations or structural demographic shifts.
The results identify three distinct profiles among new rural residents. First, retirement returnees who relocate to their municipalities of origin at the end of their working lives, contributing modestly to population figures but reinforcing ageing dynamics. Second, domestic “neo-rural” migrants, typically of working age, who relocate from urban areas and concentrate in relatively accessible rural municipalities, often within commuting distance of metropolitan regions. Third—and most significant for demographic renewal—international migrants of working age with ongoing family projects, who are settling even in the most remote and ageing municipalities. Unlike other groups, this profile shows a measurable capacity to stabilise or reverse long-term depopulation trends, particularly in areas previously considered demographically unsustainable.
The paper discusses the implications of these findings for regional disparities and labour market dynamics, highlighting the role of international migration in sustaining agricultural production, care services and local economic activity in peripheral regions. By distinguishing between internal and international migration flows and their differentiated spatial impacts, the study contributes to debates on migration selectivity, human capital redistribution and the capacity of migration to mitigate demographic and economic imbalances in peripheral European territories.