IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ozl/journl/v14y2011i1p59-75.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The age dispersion of workers and firm productivity: a survey approach

Author

Listed:
  • Ross Guest

    (Griffith University)

  • Heather Stewart

    (Griffith University)

Abstract

This paper investigates a tentative finding in recent literature that the age dispersion of workers matters for average firm productivity. The reason is not related to differences in the workers’ age specific productivity levels. Rather it is that workers of different ages are complementary in their effects on average firm productivity. The approach is an econometric study for Australia using the only publicly available matched employee-employer data which is extracted from the AWIRS 95 survey, along with data from a small online pilot survey conducted for the purposes of this study. The results support the tentative suggestion from prior studies, using somewhat different methodologies, that a more widely dispersed workforce by age is positive for productivity. This may have implications for human resource management of firms and for public policy, for example in relation to immigration.

Suggested Citation

  • Ross Guest & Heather Stewart, 2011. "The age dispersion of workers and firm productivity: a survey approach," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 14(1), pages 59-75.
    • Handle: RePEc:ozl:journl:v:14:y:2011:i:1:p:59-75
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://ftprepec.drivehq.com/ozl/journl/downloads/AJLE141guest.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Creina Day & Steve Dowrick, 2004. "Ageing Economics: Human Capital, Productivity and Fertility," Agenda - A Journal of Policy Analysis and Reform, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics, vol. 11(1), pages 3-20.
    2. Thierry Lallemand & François Rycx, 2009. "Are Older Workers Harmful for Firm Productivity?," De Economist, Springer, vol. 157(3), pages 273-292, September.
    3. Guest, R, 2005. "A Potential Dividend from Workforce Ageing in Australia," Australian Bulletin of Labour, National Institute of Labour Studies, vol. 31(2), pages 135-154.
    4. Paul H. Jensen, 2010. "Exploring the Uses of Matched Employer–Employee Datasets," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 43(2), pages 209-216, June.
    5. Ehrlich, Isaac & Lui, Francis T, 1991. "Intergenerational Trade, Longevity, and Economic Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(5), pages 1029-1059, October.
    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. John Creedy (ed.), 2007. "New Developments in the Economics of Population Ageing," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 12568.
    8. Ross Guest & Robyn Swift, 2008. "Fertility, income inequality, and labour productivity," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 60(4), pages 597-618, October.
    9. Lucas, Robert Jr., 1988. "On the mechanics of economic development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 3-42, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nathalie Greenan & Pierre-Jean Messe, 2014. "Transmission of vocational skills at the end of career: horizon effect and technological or organisational change," Working Papers halshs-01143496, HAL.

    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. Boikos, Spyridon & Bucci, Alberto & Stengos, Thanasis, 2013. "Non-monotonicity of fertility in human capital accumulation and economic growth," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 38(PA), pages 44-59.
    2. Isaac Ehrlich & Yong Yin, 2013. "Equilibrium Health Spending and Population Aging in a Model of Endogenous Growth: Will the GDP Share of Health Spending Keep Rising?," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 7(4), pages 411-447.
    3. Zeng, Jinli & Zhang, Jie, 2022. "Education policies and development with threshold human capital externalities," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    4. Chakraborty, Shankha, 2004. "Endogenous lifetime and economic growth," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 116(1), pages 119-137, May.
    5. Angelina Shpilevaya, 2022. "Overview of General Equilibrium Models with Imperfect Financial Markets and the Accumulation of Human Capital," Russian Journal of Money and Finance, Bank of Russia, vol. 81(3), pages 54-71, September.
    6. Philip Trostel & Ian Walker, 2006. "Education and Work," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(4), pages 377-399.
    7. Gong, Liutang & Li, Hongyi & Wang, Dihai, 2012. "Health investment, physical capital accumulation, and economic growth," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 1104-1119.
    8. Mat Salleh, Supian & Halid, Noreha, 2018. "Human Capital, Intrinsic Motivation and Poverty of Elderly in Later Life," Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, vol. 52(1), pages 157-168.
    9. Isaac Ehrlich & Jinyoung Kim, 2007. "The Evolution of Income and Fertility Inequalities over the Course of Economic Development: A Human Capital Perspective," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 1(1), pages 137-174.
    10. repec:ehu:dfaeii:6723 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Ronald R. Kumar & Peter J. Stauvermann, 2019. "The Effects of a Revenue-Neutral Child Subsidy Tax Mechanism on Growth and GHG Emissions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-23, May.
    12. Ngai, L. Rachel, 2004. "Barriers and the transition to modern growth," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(7), pages 1353-1383, October.
    13. de la Croix, David & Licandro, Omar, 1999. "Life expectancy and endogenous growth," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 255-263, November.
    14. Peter J. Stauvermann & Ronald R. Kumar, 2016. "Sustainability of A Pay-as-you-Go Pension System in A Small Open Economy with Ageing, Human Capital and Endogenous Fertility," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(1), pages 2-20, February.
    15. Assaf Razin & Chi‐Wa Yuen, 1997. "Factor Mobility and Income Growth: Two Convergence Hypotheses," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 1(2), pages 171-190, June.
    16. Kazutoshi Miyazawa, 2006. "Growth and inequality: a demographic explanation," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 19(3), pages 559-578, July.
    17. Cipriani, Giam Pietro & Makris, Miltiadis, 2007. "Indeterminacy, intergenerational redistribution, endogenous longevity and human capital accumulation," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 613-633, February.
    18. Christian Göbel & Thomas Zwick, 2012. "Age and Productivity: Sector Differences," De Economist, Springer, vol. 160(1), pages 35-57, March.
    19. Matteo Cervellati & Uwe Sunde & Klaus F. Zimmermann, 2017. "Demographic dynamics and long-run development: insights for the secular stagnation debate," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 30(2), pages 401-432, April.
    20. Isaac Ehrlich, 2009. "The Mystery of Human Capital as Engine of Growth, or Why the US Became the Economic Superpower in the 20th Century," Ensayos Económicos, Central Bank of Argentina, Economic Research Department, vol. 1(56), pages 41-93, October -.
    21. Francesco Ricci & Marios Zachariadis, 2013. "Education Externalities on Longevity," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 80(319), pages 404-440, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Labour and Demographic Economics; Labour Economics; Demographic Economics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J00 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - General
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General
    • J10 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - General

    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:ozl:journl:v:14:y:2011:i:1:p:59-75. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    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: Sandie Rawnsley (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/becurau.html .

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.