The COVID‐19 pandemic has affected economies, labor markets, health care, education and tourism around the globe in unprecedented ways. However, little research has yet been devoted to the impact that the pandemic might have had on internal migration. This study aims to address this gap by determining how the intensity and spatial patterns of internal migration changed between 2019 and 2020 in Germany. We draw on data from the population register on annual flows between 401 counties. We find that the COVID‐19 pandemic was associated with a 5% drop in the intensity of inter‐county migration in 2020 compared to the previous year, with significant variation across age. The pandemic was also associated with an upsurge in net migration losses for the largest cities, driven by fewer inflows of young adults and continuing outflows of families.

Previous research on the impact of parental loss on labor market outcomes in adulthood has often suffered from low sample sizes. To generate further insights into the long-term consequences of parental death, I use the Historical Sample of the Netherlands (HSN). The HSN contains occupational information on life courses of a sample of more than 8,000 males and almost 7,000 females born between 1850 and 1922, a period of important labor market transformations. Roughly 20 % of the sample population experienced parental death before age 16. Linear regression models show that maternal loss is significantly associated with lower occupational position in adulthood for both men and women, which points to the crucial importance of maternal care in childhood for socioeconomic outcomes in later life. This interpretation is supported by the finding that a stepmother’s entry into the family is positively related with sons’ occupational position later in life. In contrast to expectations, the loss of economic resources related to the father’s death is generally not associated with lower status attainment in adulthood for men or for women. The results indicate, however, that the negative consequences of paternal death on men’s socioeconomic outcomes decreased over time, illustrating the complex interaction between individual life courses and surrounding labor market transformations.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s13524-019-00808-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

BACKGROUND After losing a population of more than 1.2 million through migration to the West, in 2017 East Germany recorded net internal migration gains for the very first time since reunification. OBJECTIVE In consideration of this trend reversal, we investigate internal migration patterns between East and West Germany since reunification and discuss their consequences for population dynamics. METHODS We use annual inter-county migration flows for the period 1991 to 2018 to calculate the yearly total number of registered moves and internal migration rates differentiated by citizenship, age, and sex. RESULTS East Germany currently experiences small net population gains through internal migration among almost all age groups and noticeable net population losses only among labor market entrants (25-29 year olds). In addition, the results show that men have dominated West-East migration throughout the entire study period and East-West migration since about 2008. CONCLUSIONS Internal migration between East and West Germany has changed significantly since reunification. The continuing population losses among labor market entrants reveal that the West German labor market is still more attractive for young adults. The sex

BACKGROUNDThis article examines the impact of parental death in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood on male and female age at marriage in the Netherlands in the period 1850-1940. It follows an interdisciplinary approach as it considers explanations based on social and demographic history and evolutionary biology. OBJECTIVEWe study the classical historical framework in more detail by controlling for the age at parental death. Moreover, we study if evolutionary or social-demographic explanations are better able to predict the impact of parental death on marriage behavior in a historical population. METHODSWe apply event-history analysis to the Historical Sample of the Netherlands, which includes life courses of more than 24,000 individuals in marital age. RESULTSLosing a parent in early childhood delays transition to marriage for sons and has no significant effect on daughters. Parental death in adulthood, however, accelerates entry into marriage for children of farmers. CONCLUSIONSEarly parental death hindered a smooth transition to marriage but the inheritance of land in adulthood created marriage opportunities both for men and women. The results suggest that farming families employed fast marriage of adult children to restore the gender balance on the farm. http://www.demographic-research.org CONTRIBUTION Marriage in the period 1850-1940 was strongly determined by regional, cultural, religious, and financial constraints. The proposed evolutionary explanations, and the one based on life history theory in particular, are therefore not able to predict the relationship between parental death and marriage behavior. Accordingly, we advise not to use the age at marriage as a proxy for reproductive and risky sexual behavior.

To cite this article: Matthias Rosenbaum-Feldbrügge (2018) Gender differences in response to family crisis: changes in household composition and migration of widowed parents with minor children in

The reunification of the socialist German Democratic Republic and the capitalist Federal Republic of Germany presents a unique setting for studying the impact of socio-economic and political change on migration. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the interdisciplinary literature on migration between East and West Germany since reunification, conducted in disciplines such as economics, demography, sociology, and human geography. We synthesise the literature with regard to data-related challenges as well as individual and contextual determinants of migration. We clarify some misinterpretations and discrepancies in previous studies, identify research gaps, and suggest directions for future research. Our review demonstrates that East-West migration mainly occurred in line with what could have been expected based on migration theory with regard to migrants’ sex, age, education, labour market position, and social networks. West-East migration, in contrast, was strongly affected by return migrants who often stated non-occupational motives for moving. On the contextual level, differences in wages are better able to explain East-West migration over time than differences in unemployment rates. West-East migration, however, cannot be explained well with such macroeconomic models. This paper contributes a point of reference for future research on this topic, as well as on internal migration and socio-economic disparities in general.

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic poses the risk of overburdening health care systems, and in particular intensive care units (ICUs). Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), ranging from wearing masks to (partial) lockdowns have been implemented as mitigation measures around the globe. However, especially severe NPIs are used with great caution due to their negative effects on the economy, social life and mental well-being. Thus, understanding the impact of the pandemic on ICU demand under alternative scenarios reflecting different levels of NPIs is vital for political decision-making on NPIs.ObjectiveThe aim is to support political decision-making by forecasting COVID-19-related ICU demand under alternative scenarios of COVID-19 progression reflecting different levels of NPIs. Substantial sub-national variation in COVID-19-related ICU demand requires a spatially disaggregated approach. This should not only take sub-national variation in ICU-relevant disease dynamics into account, but also variation in the population at risk including COVID-19-relevant risk characteristics (e.g. age), and factors mitigating the pandemic. The forecast provides indications for policy makers and health care stakeholders as to whether mitigation measures have to be maintained or even strengthened to prevent ICU demand from exceeding supply, or whether there is leeway to relax them.MethodsWe implement a spatial age-structured microsimulation model of the COVID-19 pandemic by extending the Susceptible-Exposed-Infectious-Recovered (SEIR) framework. The model accounts for regional variation in population age structure and in spatial diffusion pathways. In a first step, we calibrate the model by applying a genetic optimization algorithm against hospital data on ICU patients with COVID-19. In a second step, we forecast COVID-19-related ICU demand under alternative scenarios of COVID 19 progression reflecting different levels of NPIs. We apply the model to Germany and provide state-level forecasts over a 2-month period, which can be updated daily based on latest data on the progression of the pandemic.ResultsTo illustrate the merits of our model, we present here “forecasts” of ICU demand for different stages of the pandemic during 2020. Our forecasts for a quiet summer phase with low infection rates identified quite some variation in potential for relaxing NPIs across the federal states. By contrast, our forecasts during a phase of quickly rising infection numbers in autumn (second wave) suggested that all federal states should implement additional NPIs. However, the identified needs for additional NPIs varied again across federal states. In addition, our model suggests that during large infection waves ICU demand would quickly exceed supply, if there were no NPIs in place to contain the virus.ConclusionOur results provide evidence for substantial spatial variation in (1) the effect of the pandemic on ICU demand, and (2) the potential and need for NPI adjustments at different stages of the pandemic. Forecasts with our spatial age-structured microsimulation model allow to take this spatial variation into account. The model is programmed in R and can be applied to other countries, provided that reliable data on the number of ICU patients infected with COVID-19 are available at sub-national level.

PurposeDrawing on social learning theory (SLT), this study aims to investigate how previous cross-cultural work experience influences individual adjustment in a foreign environment over time. For this purpose, the authors study foreign service employees who are characterized by permanent high mobility and frequent rotations.Design/methodology/approachTwo cross-sectional surveys conducted in 2011 (analytical sample N = 1,097) and 2019 (analytical sample N = 1,431) amongst German Foreign Service (GFS) employees are used to analyse employees' adjustment, measured by self-perceived quality of life (QOL) and its development over time based on four time points. Locational adjustment trajectories serve as robustness checks.FindingsYounger and therefore less experienced employees fit J-shaped patterns of adjustment, while more experienced employees show rather flat adjustment curves. Accordingly, work experience matters and “one curve fits all” approaches do not suffice to explain adjustment over time. Moreover, neither more nor less experienced employees experienced U-trajectories as proposed by previous literature on business expatriates.Research limitations/implicationsThe study findings are based on cross-sectional surveys, but longitudinal designs should be preferred in future research.Practical implicationsSending institutions may develop special support systems for inexperienced expatriates prior to departure to weaken the negative impacts of culture shock.Originality/valueExisting literature only sparsely analysed adjustment and QOL for foreign service employees/diplomats so far. To the authors’ knowledge, no study analysed trajectories of adjustment over time for this population. This study profits from the analysis across two surveys. Both samples benefit from a high diversity, among others, regarding gender, age, education and host countries.