Data resources

Links to German administrative and survey data — a collection I keep mainly for my own reference, shared here in case it is useful to others.

German administrative data

• German Census 2011 / 2022 Aggregated at city level; religion, demographics, occupation; at most five variables at a time. (2011 edition)
• Regional Database Germany Aggregated at NUTS-3 level; elections, education, social services, firms.
• INKAR Aggregated at NUTS-3 level; social indicators (unemployment, …), housing, demography, traffic.
• Official German shapefiles Administrative boundaries at city and NUTS levels.
• Geonames Geolocations, e.g. longitude and latitude of cities worldwide.
• Labour market data by the IAB Administrative data on “customers” of employment agencies and social security records. The 2% SIAB sample of matched employer–employee data can be combined with AKM effects from the full data; many linkages to surveys (SOEP, LPP, Betriebspanel) are available.
• Microcensus Similar to the Current Population Survey: a 1% cross-sectional sample of German households; wages and demographics. The FDZ website hosts further administrative statistics on firms and federal demographics.
• DZHW research data Several (panel) data sets on university students and graduates.
• National Educational Panel (NEPS) Panel data sets on student and graduate cohorts, linkable to IAB matched employer–employee data.
• bund.dev Unofficial documentation of APIs by German ministries and authorities: weather, traffic, job openings, air quality, …
• German Pension Insurance data Samples from pension insurance records; some include employer identifiers and further IAB information; linkable to the G-SOEP.
• Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) Surveys of firms, students, and workers on vocational education and on-the-job training; the German site lists more data sources.
• Further data by the Federal Statistical Office Trade, earnings, collective bargaining agreements, …

German survey data

• Structure of Earnings Survey Matched employer–employee data, available for many European countries; large mandatory firm-level survey every four years.
• Socio-Economic Panel (G-SOEP) Large household panel (n > 30,000) running since the 1980s, all kinds of microdata; special samples on refugees, COVID-19, … See also the SOEP companion.
• ALLBUS Representative German survey, n ≈ 3,000, every two years since 1990; core questions plus changing modules (e.g. on health).
• Pairfam Cohort panel (’71–’73, …, ’01–’03; n ≈ 3,000 each) on family and partnership.
• paneldata.org Overview of further German panel studies.

Further lists

• INCASI list of European data sources
• FDZ-Methodenreport “Vorbereitende Forschung für die zweite Evaluationsrunde Mindestlöhne” (PDF, in German) A great overview of further data on the German labour market.