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Decomposing the change in labour force indicators over time

Author

Listed:
  • Alexia Prskawetz

    (Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital (IIASA, OeAW, University of Vienna))

  • Barbara Zagaglia

    (Università Politecnica delle Marche)

  • Thomas Fent

    (Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften)

  • Vegard Skirbekk

    (Folkehelseinstituttet (Norwegian Institute of Public Health))

Abstract

In this paper we study changes in the size and the composition of the labour force in five OECD countries from 1983 through 2000. We apply a recent decomposition method to quantify the components of the change over time in the crude labour force rate and the mean age of the labour force. Our results show that the change in the crude labour force rate was dominated by the change in age-specific labour force participation rates. For the mean age of the labour force we find that for males the change in the age composition of the population predominately explains the overall change while the results for females are less clear-cut.

Suggested Citation

  • Alexia Prskawetz & Barbara Zagaglia & Thomas Fent & Vegard Skirbekk, 2005. "Decomposing the change in labour force indicators over time," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 13(7), pages 163-188.
    • Handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:13:y:2005:i:7
    DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2005.13.7
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. James W. Vaupel & Vladimir Canudas-Romo, 2002. "Decomposing demographic change into direct vs. compositional components," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 7(1), pages 1-14.
    2. Prithwis Gupta, 1978. "A general method of decomposing a difference between two rates into several components," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 15(1), pages 99-112, February.
    3. Courtney Coile & Jonathan Gruber, 2000. "Social Security and Retirement," NBER Working Papers 7830, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Robert Shimer, 2001. "The Impact of Young Workers on the Aggregate Labor Market," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 116(3), pages 969-1007.
    5. Jonathan Gruber & David A. Wise, 1999. "Social Security and Retirement around the World," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number grub99-1.
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    Cited by:

    1. Henseke, Golo & Strohner, Benjamin & Tivig, Thusnelda, 2013. "Methodenreport Work & Age: Berufliche Alterungstrends und Fachkräfteengpässe," Thuenen-Series of Applied Economic Theory 130, University of Rostock, Institute of Economics.
    2. Elke Loichinger & Alexia Prskawetz, 2017. "Changes in economic activity: The role of age and education," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 36(40), pages 1185-1208.
    3. Henseke, Golo & Tivig, Thusnelda, 2013. "Alterung in Berufen: Der Beitrag ökonomischer Einflüsse," VfS Annual Conference 2013 (Duesseldorf): Competition Policy and Regulation in a Global Economic Order 80001, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    labor force; population aging; decomposition; labor force indicators;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

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