IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/empiri/v40y2013i4p561-584.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Ageing, productivity and wages in Austria: sector level evidence

Author

Listed:
  • Bernhard Mahlberg
  • Inga Freund
  • Alexia Prskawetz

Abstract

In this paper we analyse the link between the age structure of the labour force and average labour productivity as well as average wage across industrial sectors. While this intermediate economic level has been under-explored up to now, we will argue that it provides valuable insights in several respects. Our analysis is based on a panel data set ranging over 6 years (2002–2007). It covers the sectors of mining, manufacturing and market oriented services in the Austrian economy. Our results exhibit a positive correlation of the share of older employees and productivity, whereas we cannot find any evidence for a significant relationship of the share of younger employees and productivity. Moreover, the estimated age-wage pattern does not hint at an over-payment of older employees. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Bernhard Mahlberg & Inga Freund & Alexia Prskawetz, 2013. "Ageing, productivity and wages in Austria: sector level evidence," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 40(4), pages 561-584, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:empiri:v:40:y:2013:i:4:p:561-584
    DOI: 10.1007/s10663-012-9192-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10663-012-9192-9
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10663-012-9192-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Benoit Dostie, 2011. "Wages, Productivity and Aging," De Economist, Springer, vol. 159(2), pages 139-158, June.
    2. Susana Iranzo & Fabiano Schivardi & Elisa Tosetti, 2008. "Skill Dispersion and Firm Productivity: An Analysis with Employer-Employee Matched Data," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(2), pages 247-285, April.
    3. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Introduction to "Schooling, Experience, and Earnings"," NBER Chapters, in: Schooling, Experience, and Earnings, pages 1-4, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Göbel, Christian & Zwick, Thomas, 2009. "Age and productivity: evidence from linked employer employee data," ZEW Discussion Papers 09-020, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    5. Raveh, Adi, 2000. "Co-plot: A graphic display method for geometrical representations of MCDM," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 125(3), pages 670-678, September.
    6. Göbel, Christian & Zwick, Thomas, 2010. "Which personnel measures are effective in increasing productivity of old workers?," ZEW Discussion Papers 10-069, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    7. Hirte, Georg & Brunow, Stephan, 2008. "The age pattern of human capital and regional productivity," Dresden Discussion Paper Series in Economics 01/08, Technische Universität Dresden, Faculty of Business and Economics, Department of Economics.
    8. O'Mahony, Mary & Robinson, Catherine & Vecchi, Michela, 2008. "The impact of ICT on the demand for skilled labour: A cross-country comparison," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(6), pages 1435-1450, December.
    9. Patrick Aubert & Bruno Crépon, 2003. "La productivité des salariés âgés : une tentative d'estimation," Économie et Statistique, Programme National Persée, vol. 368(1), pages 95-119.
    10. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Schooling, Experience, and Earnings," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number minc74-1.
    11. Ana Cardoso & Paulo Guimarães & José Varejão, 2011. "Are Older Workers Worthy of Their Pay? An Empirical Investigation of Age-Productivity and Age-Wage Nexuses," De Economist, Springer, vol. 159(2), pages 95-111, June.
    12. T. Fent & B. Mahlberg & A. Prskawetz, 2008. "Demographic Change and Economic Growth," Springer Books, in: Florian Kohlbacher & Cornelius Herstatt (ed.), The Silver Market Phenomenon, chapter 1, pages 3-16, Springer.
    13. Thomas Zwick, 2005. "Continuing Vocational Training Forms and Establishment Productivity in Germany," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 6(2), pages 155-184, May.
    14. Jianmin Tang & Carolyn MacLeod, 2006. "Labour force ageing and productivity performance in Canada," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 39(2), pages 582-603, May.
    15. Lazear, Edward P, 1979. "Why Is There Mandatory Retirement?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(6), pages 1261-1284, December.
    16. Andrea Kunnert & Oliver Fritz & Dieter Pennerstorfer & Gerhard Streicher & Birgit Aigner & Thomas Döring, 2010. "Teilbericht 3: Alterung und regionale Wettbewerbsfähigkeit," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 41128, June.
    17. Bart van Ark & Mary O'Mahoney & Marcel P. Timmer, 2008. "The Productivity Gap between Europe and the United States: Trends and Causes," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 22(1), pages 25-44, Winter.
    18. Johannes Pöschl & Robert Stehrer & Roman Stöllinger, 2009. "Characteristics of exporting and non-exporting firms in Austria," FIW Research Reports series II-001, FIW.
    19. Freund, Inga & Mahlberg, Bernhard & Prskawetz, Alexia, 2011. "A matched employer-employee panel data set for Austria: 2002 - 2005," ECON WPS - Working Papers in Economic Theory and Policy 01/2011, TU Wien, Institute of Statistics and Mathematical Methods in Economics, Economics Research Unit.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mahlberg, Bernhard & Freund, Inga & Prskawetz, Alexia, 2011. "Ageing, productivity and wages in Austria: Evidence from a matched employer-employee data set at the sector level," ECON WPS - Working Papers in Economic Theory and Policy 02/2011, TU Wien, Institute of Statistics and Mathematical Methods in Economics, Economics Research Unit.
    2. Mahlberg, Bernhard & Freund, Inga & Crespo Cuaresma, Jesús & Prskawetz, Alexia, 2013. "Ageing, productivity and wages in Austria," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 5-15.
    3. Benoit Dostie & Pierre Thomas Léger, 2014. "Firm-Sponsored Classroom Training: Is It Worth It for Older Workers?," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 40(4), pages 377-390, December.
    4. Vladimir Gimpelson, 2019. "Age and Wage: Stylized Facts and Russian Evidence," HSE Economic Journal, National Research University Higher School of Economics, vol. 23(2), pages 185-237.
    5. Thierry Lallemand & François Rycx, 2009. "Are young and old workers harmful for firm productivity?," DULBEA Working Papers 09-02.RS, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    6. Christian Pfeifer & Joachim Wagner, 2014. "Age and gender effects of workforce composition on productivity and profits: Evidence from a new type of data for German enterprises," Contemporary Economics, University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw., vol. 8(1), March.
    7. Alessandra Cataldi & Stephan Kampelmann & François Rycx, 2012. "Does it pay to be productive? The case of age groups," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 33(3), pages 264-283, June.
    8. Maciej Lis, 2017. "Productivity based selection to retirement: Evidence from EU-SILC," IBS Working Papers 02/2017, Instytut Badan Strukturalnych.
    9. François Rycx & Yves Saks & Ilan Tojerow, 2015. "Does Education Raise Productivity and Wages Equally? The Moderating Roles of Age, Gender and Industry," Working Paper Research 281, National Bank of Belgium.
    10. Lara Lebedinski & Vincent Vandenberghe, 2014. "Assessing education’s contribution to productivity using firm-level evidence," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 35(8), pages 1116-1139, October.
    11. Mahlberg, Bernhard & Freund, Inga & Crespo Cuaresma, Jesús & Prskawetz, Alexia, 2013. "The age-productivity pattern: Do location and sector affiliation matter?," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 1, pages 72-82.
    12. Peng, Fei & Anwar, Sajid & Kang, Lili, 2017. "New technology and old institutions: An empirical analysis of the skill-biased demand for older workers in Europe," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 1-19.
    13. Vandenberghe, V., 2013. "Are firms willing to employ a greying and feminizing workforce?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 30-46.
    14. Marconi, Gabriele, 2015. "Give it time: Education affects economic growth in the long term," MPRA Paper 87601, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 14 Oct 2016.
    15. Pfeifer, Christian & Wagner, Joachim, 2012. "Age and Gender Composition of the Workforce, Productivity and Profits: Evidence from a New Type of Data for German Enterprises," IZA Discussion Papers 6381, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. repec:eee:labchp:v:1:y:1986:i:c:p:305-355 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Marconi, G. & de Grip, A., 2014. "Education and growth with learning by doing," ROA Research Memorandum 010, Maastricht University, Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA).
    18. Börsch-Supan, Axel & Weiss, Matthias, 2016. "Productivity and age: Evidence from work teams at the assembly line," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 7(C), pages 30-42.
    19. Alberto Bayo-Moriones & Jose E. Galdon-Sanchez & Maia Güell, 2010. "Is seniority-based pay used as a motivational device? Evidence from plant-level data," Research in Labor Economics, in: Solomon W. Polachek & Konstantinos Tatsiramos (ed.), Jobs, Training, and Worker Well-being, volume 30, pages 155-187, Emerald Publishing Ltd.
    20. Kadija Charni, 2016. "Is it Better to Work When We Are Older? An Empirical Comparison Between France and Great Britain," AMSE Working Papers 1640, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    21. Elżbieta Stępień, 2009. "The Impact of International Trade and Foreign Competition on Labour Earnings in Poland," Ekonomia journal, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw, vol. 24.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Ageing workforce; Production function; Age-productivity profile; Age-wage pattern; J14; J24; J82;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J82 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Labor Force Composition

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:empiri:v:40:y:2013:i:4:p:561-584. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: . General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.