About GERPS

With its unique data, the GERPS project addresses two gaps in international migration research.

1. Migration research has been mainly interested in migration flows from less to more developed countries. Surprisingly little is known about the international mobility of populations originating from affluent countries. They are usually considered countries of destination. Although international migration between economically developed countries accounts for a considerable proportion of global migration flows, they are rarely studied as countries of origin.
2. The consequences of international migration over the individual life course are rarely investigated – even less so from the perspective of source countries. Several spheres of migrant lives are likely to change with international movement: Labour and income, partnership and family life, health and well-being, and social participation and relationships. Adequate research designs that address these gaps in migration research are rare in contemporary studies on international migration.

Research interest

GERPS aims at examining the individual consequences of international migration across the life course based on the example of emigration from Germany and remigration to Germany. Do temporary or even long-term periods abroad actually contribute to a successful professional life? Is spatial immobility related to lower life chances and social exclusion? The project investigates the consequences of international migration in light of classical dimensions of social inequality, such as employment and income, well-being and life satisfaction, relationship and family and social relations and social participation.

Whereas migration research has traditionally focused on the integration of immigrants into the host society, the German Emigration and Remigration Panel Study examines the consequences of mobility by comparing migrants with the non-mobile population of the society of origin and as results of individual life courses.

Research design

GERPS follows an origin-based sampling approach to study the internationally mobile German population. The innovative study design exploits information from German registers to assure probability based sampling and then keeps track of migrant lives for several years through an online-panel.

Sampling approach

The research design complements traditional immigrant surveys conducted in major countries of destination by surveying emigrants and remigrants from the perspective of the origin country. The origin-based sampling approach has at least three major advantages compared to classical approaches that sample immigrants in their destination countries: First, it enables comparative studies about emigrants in various destination countries and about remigrants returning from various destination countries. Second, the research design enables comparisons of the internationally mobile population with non-migrants staying in the country of origin by drawing on the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). Third, the research design allows comparative studies of emigrants and remigrants, providing the opportunity to analyse consequences of international migration from at least two perspectives – shortly after emigration and shortly after return.

This design is a potential blueprint for other researchers looking for timely approaches to global lives. Given high turnout, high data quality, a response rate of over 32 percent in the first wave and 68 percent in the second wave, we are confident that GERPS will make an important contribution to migration and integration research.