Publications of the Research Unit Labour Markets and Social Insurance

  1. Refereed Journal // forthcoming

    AI-Powered Skill Classification: Mapping Technology Intensity in the German Labor Market

    The rapid evolution of technology is reshaping labour markets by altering skill demands and job profiles. This paper introduces a novel skill-based measure of occupational technology intensity – the occupational…

  2. Refereed Journal // forthcoming

    Fundamentally Reforming the DI System: Evidence from Germany

    In 2001, Germany abolished public occupational disability insurance (ODI)—the second tier of its public DI system—for cohorts born after 1960. Using administrative data, we first document that, in the long run,…

  3. Refereed Journal // forthcoming

    The Anatomy of U.S. Sick Leave Schemes: Evidence from Public School Teachers

    We study how public school teachers use paid sick leave. Most U.S. sick leave schemes operate as individualized credit accounts – paid leave is earned and unused leave accumulates, producing an employee-specific…

  4. Refereed Journal // 2026

    Intergenerational mobility fosters innovation in Europe

    The circumstances into which individuals are born can place fundamental constraints on their future economic opportunities, leading to a mismatch between talent, education and occupation. One major determinant…

  5. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 26-026 // 2026

    Does Tightening the Duration of Temporary Contracts Cost Jobs? Evidence from Germany

    Many countries limit how long a worker may be kept on a temporary contract, yet little is known about how firms and workers respond when this maximum duration is tightened. Does a shorter cap simply displace…

  6. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 26-025 // 2026

    Off the Labor Supply Curve: The Zero Employer Size Wage Effect Within Large Firms

    We revisit the employer size wage effect (ESWE)—arguably the most basic and influential departure from the law of one price for labor. Our main result is that this canonical fact disappears completely across…

  7. Refereed Journal // 2026

    The Economics of Paid Sick Leave

    This article examines the economics of paid sick leave from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. Research on paid sick leave has evolved dynamically over the last decade, primarily driven by the spread…

  8. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 26-022 // 2026

    Patents, Firm Rents, and Worker Compensation: Causal Evidence from Quasi-Random Patent Allocation

    This paper provides new causal evidence on how patent allowances affect firms and their employees based on quasi-random assignment of patent applications to examiners. Exploiting employer–employee records with…