Department für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie (DSS)

Dr. Lukas Fervers

Arbeits- und Forschungsschwerpunkte

• Education and labour market
• Policy-evaluation
• Quantitative Methods and applied econometrics 

Curriculum vitae

• Since 2017: Project leader at the university of Cologne 

• Since 2020: Senior researcher and statistics consultant at the DIE, Bonn. 

  Current project: In recent years, Germany has experienced a decrease in the number of apprenticeships and increasing number of unfilled apprenticeship. Against this background, Germany has implemented different policy measures to support the duale education system. In this project, we investigate the impact of the newly introduced apprenticeship minimum wage, as well as the Corona bonus for companies on the development of new apprenticeships. Using a combination of survey and register data, we employ linear and non-linear difference-indifference analyses as well as a combination of DiD and matching/weighting to estimate the causal impact of these measures. The project is funded by the Böckler foundation. 

Ausgewählte Publikationen

Refereed journal articles

• Tobler, L., Fervers, L., Jacob, M. & Bernhard, C. (2025). When the burden lifts: The effect of school and day care re-openings on parents’ life satisfaction, Journal of Happiness Studies, 26(4), https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-024-00819-7
• Beckmann, J. & Fervers, L. (2024). Does study counselling foster STEM intentions and reduce the STEM gender gap? Evidence from a randomized controlled trial. Educational Research and Evaluation, 29(3-4), 147–170. https://doi.org/10.1080/13803611.2024.2315283
• Fervers, L., Jacob, M., Beckmann, J. & Piepenburg, J. G. (2024). Risk-return preferences, gender inequalities and the moderating role of a counselling intervention on choice of major: Evidence from a field and survey experiment. Higher Education, 89, 591-609. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-024-01237-7
• Tobler, L., Fervers, L., Jacob, M. & Knize, V. (2024). Unequal effects on working time: immigrants’ vulnerability in the German labor market in the early COVID-19 pandemic. European Societies, 26(5), 1307-1332. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616696.2024.2308011
• Fervers, L., Tobler, L., Knize, V., Christoph, B. & Jacob, M. (2023). Kids back to school – parents back to work? School and daycare opening and parents’ employment in the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of European Social Policy, 33(3), 373–387. https://doi.org/10.1177/09589287231176775
• Fervers, L. & Kurowska, A. (2022): Conservative cultural context as a moderator of the impact of childcare policy on maternal employment. Evidence from a natural experiment. Journal of European Social Policy, 32(3), 239–253. https://doi.org/10.1177/09589287221080395
• Piepenburg, J. & Fervers, L. (2021): Do students need more information to leave the beaten paths? The impact of a counseling intervention on high school students' choice of major. Higher Education, 84(2), 321–341. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-021-00770-z
• Brändle, T. & Fervers, L. (2021). Give it another try: What are the effects of a job creation scheme especially designed for hard-to-place workers? Journal of Labor Research, 42, 382-417, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12122-021-09322-x
• Fervers, L. & Ilg, L. (2021). Can we get the moving? The impact of mobility assistance on cross-country migration of young adults in Europe. International Migration, https://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12872
• Knize V., Tobler, L., Christoph, B., Fervers, L. & Jacob, M. (2021). Workin’ moms ain’t doing so bad: Evidence on the gender gap in working hours at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Family Research, 34(1), 161–192, https://doi.org/10.20377/jfr-714
• Fervers, Lukas (2019): Healing or Deepening the Scars of Unemployment? The Impact of Activation Policies on Unemployed Workers. Work, Employment and Society, 35(1), 3-20, https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0950017019882904
• Fervers, Lukas (2019): Economic Miracle, Political Disaster? Political consequences of Hartz IV, Journal of European Social Policy, 29 (3), 411-427.