Background information

Institute for Labor Market and Vocational Research (IAB) - which is the research unit of the Federal Employment Agency - conducts the annual IAB Establishment Panel. This is a representative annual survey conducted face to face among about 15,500 establishments from all sectors and size classes which have at least one employee who is subject to social security contributions.

The survey started in 1993 in Western Germany and in 1996 in Eastern Germany. It uses a random sample based on the company database of the public employment service, covering about two million firms.

The information provided by the companies is designed to help to orientate the placement and advisory activities of the Federal Employment Agency more closely to the reality in the companies. The analyses are also used for decision-making by politicians, collective bargaining parties, and associations.

Content of measure

The IAB-Establishment Panel consists of a major block of identical questions which are asked annually, providing a consistent longitudinal analysis. Furthermore, a set of questions addressing the latest political debates offers an insight into the respondents' current mind set.

Standard questions include the following topics:

• factors determining employment development (production, turnover, working time, investment and so on);

• demand for staff and employment expectations (vacancies, staff turnover, employment strategies);

• status quo and development of technology and organisational aspects and their effects on jobs;

• use of public support; engagement in education and training.

Each year, questions on special issues can be added. National and regional data analysis is also possible. 

Recent topics of the survey are digitalisation at workplace, home office practices, work organisation during COVID-19 pandemic. A list of recent publications using IAB Establishment Panel data is published on the website of the Institute for Employment Research (IAB).

Use of measure

Data from the IAB-Establishment Panel are used in many research projects. The number of consulted establishments grew from 8,342 in 1996 to 16,686 in 2020 (IAB 2022).

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Employees in standard employment	Applies to all businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Local / regional government Public employment service	National funds Regional funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Unknown	Unknown
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Unknown
• Main level of involvement: Unknown

Involvement

Unknown

Views and reactions

Unknown

Sources

• 12 October 2022: IAB-Betriebspanel (iab.de)