Summary
This paper investigates the effects of the workforce age structure on the productivity of large Belgian firms. More precisely, it examines different scenarios of changes in the proportion of young (16–29 years), middle-aged (30–49 years) and older (more than 49 years) workers and their expected effects on firm productivity. Using detailed matched employer–employee data, we find that young workers are significantly more productive than older workers. Yet, results also show that age structure effects on productivity: (i) have substantially decreased over time and (ii) are much stronger in ICT than in non-ICT firms.
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This paper is produced as part of a research contract for the European Commission (DG Employment, No. VT/2005/92) entitled “Study and Conference on European Labour Market Analysis using Firm-Level Panel Data and Linked Employer–Employee Data” (http://cep.lse.ac.uk/leed/). We would like to thank two anonymous referees, the Editor and participants to the 2009 Meeting of the Society of Labor Economists in Boston for most valuable suggestions and comments. We are grateful to the National Bank of Belgium for financial support and to Statistics Belgium for giving access to the Structure of Earnings Survey and the Structure of Business Survey. Any remaining errors are the authors’ responsibility.
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Lallemand, T., Rycx, F. Are Older Workers Harmful for Firm Productivity?. De Economist 157, 273–292 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10645-009-9126-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10645-009-9126-5