Migration och arbetsmarknadsintegration - den tyska återföreningen
UnemploymentLabor marketMigrationGermanyReunificationEconomicsEconometricsEconomic theoryEconomic systemsEconomic policyNationalekonomiEkonometriEkonomisk teoriEkonomiska systemEkonomisk politikBusiness and Economics
Title: Migration and Labor Market Integration ? the German Reunification Since the German reunification former East Germany has been struggling with rising unemployment numbers and extensive emigration. The East German Länder are still well behind the West German and even though Germany unquestionably is united politically the old border divides the economy ? and the labor market ? in two. This thesis aims to describe the reunification process of the East German and the West German labor markets, and in particular the role of migration in this process. The composition and the patterns of migration from East to West Germany, 1991-2005, are analyzed in the context of neoclassical economic migration theory. It is found that the proportion of young and human capital rich individuals among the emigrants is high and that this strong bias presumably is due to the active labor market policies introduced in East Germany after the reunification. Furthermore it is concluded that the bias is, if not the main, at least a highly contributive reason to the rising gap between the East and West unemployment numbers and to the over all pore growth of the former East German economy.