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Age and gender composition of the workforce, productivity and profits: Evidence from a new type of data for German enterprises

Author

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  • Christian Pfeifer

    (Leuphana University Lueneburg, Germany)

  • Joachim Wagner

    (Leuphana University Lüneburg, Germany)

Abstract

This empirical paper documents the relationship between composition of a firm's workforce (with a special focus on age and gender) and its performance (productivity and profitability) for a large representative sample of enterprises from manufacturing industries in Germany. We use unique newly available data that for the first time combine information from the statistics of employees covered by social security that is aggregated at the enterprise level and information from enterprise level surveys performed by the Statistical Offices. Our microeconometric analysis confirms previous findings of concave age-productivity profiles, which are consistent with human capital theory, and adds a new finding of a rather negative effect of age on firms' profitability, which is consistent with deferred compensation considerations. Moreover, our analysis reveals for the first time that the ceteris paribus lower level of productivity in firms with a higher share of female employees does not go hand in hand with a lower level of profitability in these firms. If anything, profitability is (slightly) higher in firms with a larger share of female employees. This finding might indicate that lower productivity of women is (over)compensated by lower wage costs for women, which might be driven by general labor market discrimination against women.

Suggested Citation

  • Christian Pfeifer & Joachim Wagner, 2012. "Age and gender composition of the workforce, productivity and profits: Evidence from a new type of data for German enterprises," Working Paper Series in Economics 232, University of Lüneburg, Institute of Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:lue:wpaper:232
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    Cited by:

    1. Rycx, François & Saks, Yves & Tojerow, Ilan, 2016. "Misalignment of Productivity and Wages across Regions? Evidence from Belgian Matched Panel Data," IZA Discussion Papers 10336, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Christian Pfeifer & Joachim Wagner, 2014. "Is innovative firm behavior correlated with age and gender composition of the workforce? Evidence from a new type of data for German enterprises [Besteht ein Zusammenhang zwischen dem Innovationsve," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 47(3), pages 223-231, September.
    3. 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.
    4. Vandenberghe, V., 2013. "Are firms willing to employ a greying and feminizing workforce?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 30-46.
    5. Karsten Wasiluk, 2014. "Technology Adoption and Demographic Change," Working Paper Series of the Department of Economics, University of Konstanz 2014-05, Department of Economics, University of Konstanz.
    6. Amin, Mohammad & Islam, Asif, 2015. "Are Large Informal Firms More Productive than the Small Informal Firms? Evidence from Firm-Level Surveys in Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 374-385.
    7. Torben Schubert & Martin Andersson, 2015. "Old is gold? The effects of employee age on innovation and the moderating effects of employment turnover," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1-2), pages 95-113, March.
    8. Mohammad Amin & Asif M. Islam, 2022. "Does manager education play a role in the productivity of informal firms in developing economies? Evidence from firm‐level surveys," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(2), pages 962-984, May.
    9. Stephan Humpert, 2012. "Age and Gender Differences in Job Opportunities," Working Paper Series in Economics 235, University of Lüneburg, Institute of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Ageing; firm performance; gender; productivity; profitability; Germany;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance

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