Qualifications in West Germany 1985-1995

Footnotes

See the opening page for a list of tables, an overview of the Mikrozensus, and an explanation of the terms, definitions and methods used.

1) The following pages are based on a number of internal and external publications of the Statistisches Bundesamt, above all on the original Mikrozensus form sheets (Mikrozensus 1993, Interviewervordruck 1 und 2; survey week: April 19 to 25, 1993), but also on Was ist der Mikrozensus? (edited by work group VIII C of the Statistisches Bundesamt, September 1994), on Fachserie 1, Reihe 4.1.1, 1994, pp. 12-21 and on Fachserie 1, Reihe 4.1.2, 1993, pp. 11-16. - I would like to thank members of the Statistisches Bundesamt, in particular U. Greiner, D. Emmerling and T. Riede, for their co-operation. D. Emmerling and T. Riede provided the data on which the graph below is based.

2) Therefore, the Mikrozensus is an invaluable complement to the national census (Volkszählung), which has been carried out irregularly (guideline: every ten years).

3) As an alternative, one could have used the Allgemeine Bevölkerungsumfrage der Sozialwissenschaften (ALLBUS), the advantage of which is a very detailed structure of the questions. It has, however, a number of major disadvantages, for example a relatively low number of participants, a bias towards the above 18-year-olds, and the high number of non-respondents, so that we decided to resort to the Mikrozensus. For a detailed comparison between the Mikrozensus and the ALLBUS see P.H. Hartmann, Wie repräsentativ sind Bevölkerungsumfragen? Ein Vergleich des ALLBUS und des Mikrozensus; in: ZUMA-Nachrichten, Heft 26, Mannheim 1990, pp. 7-30. Data on general and vocational education is also collected by the employers who have to report to the mandatory social insurance. This again is an invaluable source of information, but the database does not contain information on other than the employed population so that we could not use it in this context. Another possibility would have been to use the Socio Economic Panel, in which, however, only about 6000-10000 households take part.

4) These figures refer to 1994 and include the whole of Germany, i.e. including the new Länder, which have been included into the Mikrozensus since 1991.

5) For further details about the selection of areas and households, which is based on building statistics, see Statistisches Bundesamt, Fachserie 1, Reihe 4.1.1, 1994, pp. 16-17 and K. Meyer, Zum Auswahlplan des Mikrozensus ab 1990, in: S. Gabler et al. (Eds.), Gewichtung in der Umfragepraxis, Opladen 1994, pp. 106-111.

6) See D. Emmerling / T. Riede, Zur Freiwilligkeit in der Auskunftserteilung im Mikrozensus, in: Wirtschaft und Statistik, No. 6/1994 (quoted below as 1994a), pp. 435-449, here p. 443, table 4. The remaining 2.7% is the unit-nonresponse rate for 1991 (details see below). The share of those who answered the questions on the highest general schooling exam and on the last vocational qualification (which are crucial to the data set) by mail is 11.4% (see ibid., p. 442 and p. 447).

7) i.e. a blank appears in the original tables if a figure is lower than 5, because the minimum threshold for inclusion is 50, with each of the individuals representing 100 people in the total population, divided by 1000, as the figures in the tables are given in units of 1000.

8) See in particular the judgment from July 16, 1969 (1BvL 19/63, p. 9). The 1985 Mikrozensus Act is published in: Statistisches Bundesamt, Fachserie 1, Reihe 4.1.1, 1994, pp. 292-293.

9) T. Riede / D. Emmerling (Analysen zur Freiwilligkeit der Auskunftserteilung im Mikrozensus, in: Wirtschaft und Statistik, No. 9 / 1994 [quoted below as 1994b], pp. 733-742, here p. 742) quote an unpublished study by A. Van Bastelaer (Differences in the Design of Labour Force Surveys in the European Community and Some Consequences; Heerlen 1993) which shows that this is the lowest unit-nonresponse in the European Union.

10) See § 12 Abs. 2 des Melderechtsrahmengesetzes vom 16. August 1980, BGBl. I, S. 1429.

11) An exclusion of the foreigners would have been wrong, as many of them live in Germany on a permanent basis. However, members of foreign armed forces and foreign diplomats with their families are excluded.

12) The German language allows to distinguish between the unemployed in the above sense (Erwerbslose) and those who are registered unemployed (Arbeitslose). The term 'Erwerbslose', which is used by the Mikrozensus, is, therefore, the wider concept.

13) Klassifikation der Wirtschaftszweige, Ausgabe 1993 (WZ 93), Fassung für den Mikrozensus, Stand: März 1995.

14) Defined in a more formal way, the Hauptschulabschluß is the final certificate of the highest class which can be achieved with the completion of compulsory full-time education, i.e. the pupils can then go on with part-time schooling, for example in form of an acknowledged apprenticeship. The overall length of compulsory education is about twelve years.

15) Even the completion of the Berufsschule can lead to a Realschulabschluß if the pupil or apprentice has started with a certain qualification, achieves good results and takes some additional subjects.

16) There are a number of evening schools where the Abitur can be taken through part-time study.