Primary data from the German Job Search Panel

Hetschko, Clemens; Eid, Michael; Lawes, Mario; Schmidtke, Julia; Stephan, Gesine; Schöb, Ronnie

Primary data from the German Job Search Panel

Work, Organizational and Business Psychology

Authors(s) / Creator(s)

Hetschko, Clemens
Eid, Michael
Lawes, Mario
Schmidtke, Julia
Stephan, Gesine
Schöb, Ronnie

Abstract

The aim of this research project was to gain a detailed understanding of the effects of unemployment on well-being and health. To this end, two cohorts of jobseekers - one before and one during the COVID-19 pandemic - were invited to take part in a monthly smartphone-based survey between 2017 and 2021. In a subsample, cortisol in the hair was also determined as a biomarker for chronic stress. Participants were surveyed monthly for up to two years using a smartphone app about their well-being, health and job status, among other things. If the respondents agreed to this, a link to the process data of the Federal Employment Agency is possible. Two methodological reports by Hetschko et al. (2022) and Schmidtke et al. (2023) describe the survey process and selection into the survey in detail. In total, almost 1,900 people initially took part in a first cohort and almost 1,000 people in a second cohort of the ‘German Job Search Panel’ (GJSP).

Persistent Identifier

https://doi.org/10.5160/psychdata.lsmo21ge02

Year of Publication

2024

Funding

German Research Foundation (reference numbers: EI 379/11-1, EI 379/11-2, SCHO 1270/5-1, SCHO 1270/5-2, STE 1424/4-1 und STE 1424/4-2)

How to cite

Hetschko, C., Eid, M., Lawes, M., Schmidtke, J., Stephan, G. . & Schöb, R. (2024). Primary data from the German Job Search Panel (Version 1.0.0) [Data and Documentation]. Trier: Research Data Center at ZPID. https://doi.org/10.5160/psychdata.lsmo21ge02

lawes_0098.zip
72.8 MB
MD5: ac524dbe53fbb687881c4a053810203e
Sharing Level 2 (Restricted Scientific Use)

Access Dataset

Study Description

Research Questions/Hypotheses:

This is a large interdisciplinary project in which no specific hypotheses have been formulated.

Research Design:

Mixed standardized survey instrument (combination of differently standardized parts); repeated measurements

Measurement Instruments/Apparatus:

The following measurement instruments were used:

Satisfaction With Life Scale
Mehrdimensionaler Befindlichkeitsfragebogen
Allgemeine Depressions Skala
Ryff Scale of Psychological Wellbeing
Proactive Coping Inventory
Arbeitsbezogene Verhaltens- und Erlebensmuster
Skala zur Stimmungsregulation
Berlin Social Support Scale (nur Subskala zu perceived support)
Big Five Inventory-SOEP (BFI-S)

Monthly smartphone-based surveys; details on the frequency of the various questionnaires can be found in the methodological report (Hetschko et al., 2022) and in the codebook on the OSF website (https://osf.io/h4f25/).

Data Collection Method:

Survey in the absence of an investigator

Other method, namely: Smartphone-based survey

Population:

Survey Time Period:

2017-11 - 2019-05 (cohort 1); 2020-07 - 2021-02 (cohort 2)

Sample:

All persons who were likely to have registered as jobseekers due to a mass layoff or plant closure were contacted. In addition, for the first cohort, a random sample of people were contacted who came from companies that had probably not carried out mass layoffs or plant closures (random sample). Details are described in Hetschko et al. (2022).

Gender Distribution:

female participants (cohort 1: N = 793; cohort 2: N = 423)
male participants (cohort 1: N = 743; cohort 2: N = 483)
other (cohort 1: N = 4; cohort 2: N = 2)
not specified (cohort 1: N = 0; cohort 2: N = 1)

Age Distribution:

Cohort 1: 19 - 60 (at the beginning of the survey); Cohort 2: 20 - 60 (at the beginning of the survey)

Spatial Coverage (Country/Region/City): Germany/-/-

Subject Recruitment:

To recruit participants, between November 2017 and May 2019 (first cohort; before the COVID-19 pandemic) and July 2020 and February 2021 (second cohort; during the COVID-19 pandemic), people who had registered as jobseekers with the Federal Employment Agency in the preceding weeks were invited by letter or email each month. The project took advantage of the fact that people who want to apply for unemployment benefits in Germany must register as jobseekers three months before the end of their employment relationship. If they learn of the end of their employment later, they must register within three days. The study only included people who were no longer in their probationary period at the time of registering as jobseekers, were of German nationality and aged between 18 and 60. Details on recruitment can be found in Hetschko et al. (2022).

Sample Size:

N = 1540 (cohort 1), N = 909 (cohort 2)

Return/Drop Out:

GJSP_ESMData.dta

Stata file - 26154 KB
MD5: 8c7dd9a56be890db47d2aaa8417ad75b