Ageing, productivity and wages in Austria

Arbeitspapier

The current demographic developments and their consequences for workforce ageing challenge the sustainability of intergenerational transfers and economic growth. A shrinking share of the young workforce will have to support a growing share of elderly, non-working people. Therefore, the productivity of the workforce is central to a sustainable economic future. In order to study the relation between the age structure of employees and labour productivity at the firm level, we use a new matched employer-employee panel data set for Austrian firms spanning the period 2002- 2005. These data allow us to account simultaneously for socio-demographic characteristics of the employees as well as firm heterogeneity to explain labour productivity. Our results clearly show that the age-productivity as well as age-wage profile have a strong industry-specific component. In the service sector, an ageing workforce does not necessarily imply a negative productivity effect. Moreover, we cannot find any evidence for an overpayment of elderly employees.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: ECON WPS ; No. 03/2011

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-labor Market Discrimination ; Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity ; Labor Standards: Labor Force Composition
• Subject: age-productivity profile ; age-wage profile ; employer-employee data ; sector affiliation

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Mahlberg, Bernhard ; Freund, Inga ; Crespo Cuaresma, Jesús ; Prskawetz, Alexia
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Vienna University of Technology, Institute of Mathematical Methods in Economics, Research Group Economics
• (where): Vienna
• (when): 2011

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/67602
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET