IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/oec/eduaab/72-en.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Ageing and Skills: A Review and Analysis of Skill Gain and Skill Loss Over the Lifespan and Over Time

Author

Listed:
  • Richard Desjardins

    (OECD)

  • Arne Jonas Warnke

    (Centre for European Economic Research)

Abstract

The relationship between ageing and skills is becoming an important policy issue, not least in the context of population ageing. Data from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) will potentially add considerably to the understanding of the relationship between ageing and foundation skills. In particular, the fact that data from the 1994-1998 International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) and the 2003-2007 Adult Literacy and Lifeskills Survey (ALL) will be linked with PIAAC offers a unique opportunity to examine trends over time at the cohort level for a wide range of countries. Specifically, repeated measures will enable an analysis of whether there is skill gain and skill loss over the lifespan of cohorts and overtime between cohorts. This is especially important because age-skill profiles observed on the basis of a single cross-section are difficult to interpret. With this as a backdrop, this paper has sought to provide an overview of what is known about age-skill profiles and to conduct an analysis that demonstrates how trend data based on repeated cross-sectional observations of direct measures of skill at the cohort level can be used to estimate skill gain and skill loss over the lifespan and over time. La relation entre l’âge et les compétences constitue une problématique de plus en plus importante pour les pouvoirs publics, surtout dans le contexte du vieillissement de la population. Les données collectées dans le cadre du Programme international d’évaluation des compétences des adultes (PIAAC) permettront certainement de mieux comprendre le lien qui existe entre l’âge et les savoirs fondamentaux. Ainsi, le recoupement des résultats de l’Enquête internationale sur la littératie des adultes (IALS) de 1994-1998 et de l’Enquête sur la littératie et les compétences des adultes (ALLS) de 2003-2007 avec ceux du PIAAC permettra de procéder à une analyse chronologique des tendances observées au niveau des cohortes, dans un large éventail de pays. En l’occurrence, des mesures régulières permettront de déterminer si les compétences augmentent ou diminuent tout au long de la vie des cohortes et dans le temps entre les cohortes. Il s’agit d’une avancée capitale dans la mesure où les profils de compétences établis en fonction de l’âge à partir d’une seule coupe transversale sont difficiles à interpréter. Avec ces éléments en toile de fond, le présent document s’efforce de faire le bilan des connaissances actuelles sur les profils de compétences en fonction de l’âge et de mener une analyse qui montre comment les données tendancielles fondées sur des observations transversales régulières de mesures directes des compétences au niveau des cohortes peuvent être utilisées pour évaluer l’acquisition et la perte de compétences tout au long de la vie et dans le temps.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard Desjardins & Arne Jonas Warnke, 2012. "Ageing and Skills: A Review and Analysis of Skill Gain and Skill Loss Over the Lifespan and Over Time," OECD Education Working Papers 72, OECD Publishing.
    • Handle: RePEc:oec:eduaab:72-en
    DOI: 10.1787/5k9csvw87ckh-en
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1787/5k9csvw87ckh-en
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1787/5k9csvw87ckh-en?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
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andries de Grip & Hans Bosma & Dick Willems & Martin van Boxtel, 2008. "Job-worker mismatch and cognitive decline," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 60(2), pages 237-253, April.
    2. Anders Björklund & Mikael Lindahl & Erik Plug, 2006. "The Origins of Intergenerational Associations: Lessons from Swedish Adoption Data," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 121(3), pages 999-1028.
    3. James Heckman & Flavio Cunha, 2007. "The Technology of Skill Formation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(2), pages 31-47, May.
    4. Douglas Almond & Lena Edlund & Mårten Palme, 2009. "Chernobyl's Subclinical Legacy: Prenatal Exposure to Radioactive Fallout and School Outcomes in Sweden," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(4), pages 1729-1772.
    5. Bonsang, Eric & Adam, Stéphane & Perelman, Sergio, 2012. "Does retirement affect cognitive functioning?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 490-501.
    6. Mazzonna, Fabrizio & Peracchi, Franco, 2012. "Ageing, cognitive abilities and retirement," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(4), pages 691-710.
    7. Elizabeth Cascio & Damon Clark & Nora Gordon, 2008. "Education and the Age Profile of Literacy into Adulthood," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 22(3), pages 47-70, Summer.
    8. Frees,Edward W., 2004. "Longitudinal and Panel Data," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521828284, September.
    9. Flavio Cunha & James J. Heckman, 2008. "Formulating, Identifying and Estimating the Technology of Cognitive and Noncognitive Skill Formation," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(4).
    10. László Mátyás & Patrick Sevestre (ed.), 2008. "The Econometrics of Panel Data," Advanced Studies in Theoretical and Applied Econometrics, Springer, number 978-3-540-75892-1.
    11. Almlund, Mathilde & Duckworth, Angela Lee & Heckman, James & Kautz, Tim, 2011. "Personality Psychology and Economics," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 1-181, Elsevier.
    12. Frees,Edward W., 2004. "Longitudinal and Panel Data," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521535380, September.
    13. Richards, Marcus & Hardy, Rebecca & Wadsworth, Michael E. J., 2003. "Does active leisure protect cognition? Evidence from a national birth cohort," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 56(4), pages 785-792, February.
    14. Brent J. Small & Roger A. Dixon & John J. McArdle, 2011. "Tracking Cognition--Health Changes From 55 to 95 Years of Age," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 66(suppl_1), pages 153-161.
    15. William Thorn, 2009. "International Adult Literacy and Basic Skills Surveys in the OECD Region," OECD Education Working Papers 26, OECD Publishing.
    16. Jacob Mincer & Haim Ofek, 1982. "Interrupted Work Careers: Depreciation and Restoration of Human Capital," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 17(1), pages 3-24.
    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. Cheti Nicoletti & Valentina Tonei, 2017. "The response of parental time investments to the child’s skills and health," Discussion Papers 17/08, Department of Economics, University of York.
    2. Xu, Hui & Zhang, Zheyuan & Zhao, Zhong, 2023. "Parental socioeconomic status and children’s cognitive ability in China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    3. de Grip, Andries & Dupuy, Arnaud & Jolles, Jelle & van Boxtel, Martin, 2015. "Retirement and cognitive development in the Netherlands: Are the retired really inactive?," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 157-169.
    4. Barrett, Garry F. & Riddell, W. Craig, 2019. "Ageing and Skills: The Case of Literacy Skills," IZA Discussion Papers 12073, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Sonia Bhalotra & Martin Karlsson & Therese Nilsson & Nina Schwarz, 2022. "Infant Health, Cognitive Performance, and Earnings: Evidence from Inception of the Welfare State in Sweden," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 104(6), pages 1138-1156, November.
    6. de Grip, A. & Dupuy, A. & Jolles, J. & van Boxtel, M.P., 2012. "Retirement and cognitive development: are the retired really inactive?," Research Memorandum 009, Maastricht University, Maastricht Research School of Economics of Technology and Organization (METEOR).
    7. Meghir, Costas & Palme, Mårten & Schnabel, Marieke, 2011. "The Effect of Education Policy on Crime: An Intergenerational Perspective," IZA Discussion Papers 6142, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Hille, Adrian & Schupp, Jürgen, 2015. "How Learning a Musical Instrument Affects the Development of Skills," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 44, pages 56-82.
    9. James J. Heckman & Chase O. Corbin, 2016. "Capabilities and Skills," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 342-359, July.
    10. Huber, Laura Rosendahl & Sloof, Randolph & Van Praag, Mirjam, 2014. "The effect of early entrepreneurship education: Evidence from a field experiment," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 76-97.
    11. Kautz, Tim & Heckman, James J. & Diris, Ron & ter Weel, Bas & Borghans, Lex, 2014. "Fostering and Measuring Skills: Improving Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Skills to Promote Lifetime Success," IZA Discussion Papers 8696, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Palos-Sanchez, Pedro & Saura, Jose Ramon & Martin-Velicia, Felix, 2019. "A study of the effects of programmatic advertising on users' concerns about privacy overtime," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 61-72.
    13. Daniel Erdsiek, 2016. "Overqualification of graduates: assessing the role of family background [Überqualifikation von Hochschulabsolventen: Welche Rolle spielt der familiäre Hintergrund?]," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 49(3), pages 253-268, November.
    14. Francesconi, Marco & Heckman, James J, 2015. "Symposium on Child Development and Parental Investment: Introduction," Economics Discussion Papers 16868, University of Essex, Department of Economics.
    15. James Heckman & Tim Kautz, 2013. "Fostering and Measuring Skills: Interventions That Improve Character and Cognition," Working Papers 2013-019, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    16. Orazio Attanasio & Áureo de Paula & Alessandro Toppeta, 2020. "Intergenerational Mobility in Socio-emotional Skills," NBER Working Papers 27823, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Sarah Dahmann & Silke Anger, 2014. "The Impact of Education on Personality: Evidence from a German High School Reform," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 658, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    18. Thiel, Hendrik & Thomsen, Stephan L., 2013. "Noncognitive skills in economics: Models, measurement, and empirical evidence," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 189-214.
    19. Angelini, Viola & Mierau, Jochen O. & Viluma, Laura, 2021. "Socioeconomic Conditions in Childhood and Mental Health Later in Life," GLO Discussion Paper Series 844, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    20. James J. Heckman & Bridget Galaty & Haihan Tian, 2023. "The Economic Approach to Personality, Character and Virtue," NBER Working Papers 31258, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • J00 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - General
    • I19 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Other
    • I29 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Other

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:oec:eduaab:72-en. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deoecfr.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.