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Age Management – a Coping Strategy for Employers. The Case of the Automotive Industry

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  • Gudrun Biffl

    (WIFO)

Abstract

Globalisation and the ageing of the work force represent a dual challenge for enterprises. The first exerts pressure on production costs in order to stay competitive, the second raises production costs as the productivity of workers tends to decline after a certain age, particularly for unskilles and semiskilled workers involved in heavy physical work and where seniority-pay regimes apply. This paper looks at coping strategies of an enterprise in the automotive industry in Austria. It shows to what extent innovative and flexible organisation of work may ensure the survival of the production site in a highly developed economy, and what role public institutions play, in particular wage policy, retirement regulations and labour market policies, to keep older workers in employment. Austrian car manufacturing is a particularly interesting case as the option of outsourcing challenges the viability of Austrian production sites.

Suggested Citation

  • Gudrun Biffl, 2006. "Age Management – a Coping Strategy for Employers. The Case of the Automotive Industry," WIFO Working Papers 274, WIFO.
    • Handle: RePEc:wfo:wpaper:y:2006:i:274
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    File URL: https://www.wifo.ac.at/wwa/pubid/26622
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Johnson, Richard W & Neumark, David, 1996. "Wage Declines among Older Men," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 78(4), pages 740-748, November.
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    3. Sveinbjörn Blöndal & Stefano Scarpetta, 1999. "The Retirement Decision in OECD Countries," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 202, OECD Publishing.
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    5. Peter Egger & Michael Pfaffermayr & Yvonne Wolfmayr-Schnitzer, 2001. "The International Fragmentation of the Value Added Chain. The Effects of Outsourcing to Eastern Europe on Productivity, Employment and Wages in Austrian Manufacturing," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 19664, February.
    6. Gudrun Biffl, 2005. "The Socio-Economic Background of Health in Austria. With Special Emphasis on the Role of the Employment Status," Austrian Economic Quarterly, WIFO, vol. 10(1), pages 40-54, March.
    7. Arndt, Sven W. & Kierzkowski, Henryk (ed.), 2001. "Fragmentation: New Production Patterns in the World Economy," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199243310.
    8. Giulia Faggio & Stephen Nickell, 2003. "The Rise in Inactivity Among Adult Men," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Richard Dickens & Paul Gregg & Jonathan Wadsworth (ed.), The Labour Market Under New Labour, chapter 3, pages 40-52, Palgrave Macmillan.
    9. repec:ilo:ilowps:369863 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Jolivet, Annie. & Lee, Sangheon,, 2004. "Employment conditions in an ageing world : meeting the working time challenge," ILO Working Papers 993698633402676, International Labour Organization.
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    Cited by:

    1. Gudrun Biffl, 2006. "Teilstudie 16: Alternde Dienstleistungsgesellschaft," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 27455, February.
    2. Gudrun Biffl, 2006. "Teilstudie 6: Bevölkerungsentwicklung und Migration," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 27445, February.

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