Training and Age-Biased Technical Change

Using a matched employer-employee dataset on the French manufacturing sector in the 1990s, we investigate how training incidence responds to technical and organizational changes. Using a difference-in-difference approach across age groups and types of firms, we find that older workers in low-skill occupations lag behind in terms of training (in computer skills and in teamwork) when firms implement advanced information technologies. By contrast, there is no significant difference between age groups in the training response to advanced IT among workers in high-skill occupations, or in the training response to new organizational practices (among all skill groups). These results suggest that a comparative disadvantage of older workers with regard to training in computer skills may be one cause of age-biased technical change. It severely affects low-skill older workers in firms implementing advanced information technologies. A partir de données appariées de salariés et d'entreprises industrielles en France dans les années 1990, on analyse comment l'accès à la formation continue évolue selon l'âge et en réponse aux changements technologiques et organisationnels