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Age and Productivity: Sector Differences

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Abstract

In most industrialised countries, the workforce is ageing rapidly. If ageing workforces affect sectors differently, the total impact of ageing will depend on the industrial structure of an economy. This paper measures the impact of changes in the age structure of establishments on productivity using representative linked employer–employee panel data. We argue that establishment age-productivity profiles might differ for various reasons. For example, the importance of physical strength and possibilities to compensate deficits in skills differ between sectors. We investigate differences in the age-productivity profiles between the (metal) manufacturing and services sectors. However, in our preferred specification that controls for several potential sources of estimation biases, we find no significant differences in the age-productivity profiles between these sectors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), L7, 1, 68161, Mannheim, Germany

    Christian Göbel & Thomas Zwick

  2. Munich School of Management, Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) Munich, Ludwigstr. 28/RG, 80539, Munich, Germany

    Thomas Zwick

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  1. Christian Göbel
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  2. Thomas Zwick
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Correspondence to Thomas Zwick.

Additional information

The data basis of this publication is the Cross Section Model (version 1) of the Linked Employer–Employee Data of the IAB (LIAB, years 1997–2005). Data access was obtained via guest research spells at FDZ and afterwards via controlled data remote access at FDZ.

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Göbel, C., Zwick, T. Age and Productivity: Sector Differences. De Economist 160, 35–57 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10645-011-9173-6

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