Abstract
This master’s thesis investigates the research question “How do underemployment and unemployment take an impact on the psychological well-being of highly educated immigrants in Denmark and Germany?” To find an answer on it, qualitative interviews have been conducted in both countries.
Migration itself already is considered as a life event, which entails many stress factors. The given thesis investigates, how the additional stress of underemployment, respectively, unemployment affects the target group’s psychological well-being. Furthermore, it reveals, how joblessness and underemployment lead to changes in the individual’s personalities and their social relationships as well. The informants represent their own strategies of coping with unsuccessfulness on the labour market of their target countries.
Significant results have been, that both phenomena are as influential when it comes to the individual’s well-being. Furthermore, partners play an important role in overcoming this episode, with emotional support as well as with supporting their spouses in writing cover letters for instance. To establish a better well-being, most of the participants emphasised, that doing sports has been a helpful method.
Further recommended research would be a comparative analysis of both, the highly educated immigrants and the highly educated native population, to be able to make distinctions.