Austria, like most industrialized economies, is facing rapid population ageing that is also apparent in the ageing of the workforce. While older workers bring valuable experience and firm-specific knowledge, they may face difficulties adapting to new technologies — raising questions about their role in a changing economy. It is, however, the technological advancements in which many countries put their hopes to countervail some of the potential negative effects an ageing workforce brings, when it comes to competitiveness on the global market. The question is therefore which conditions at the firm and individual level allow an older workforce to be employed productively.
LEDA addresses these challenges by examining how the age composition of a firm's workforce is related to firm productivity, and how this relationship differs by the degree of technology, and specific characteristics at the firm and individual level. We leverage comprehensive register-based data from the Austrian Micro Data Center (AMDC) covering the years 2013 to 2022, linking the following registers:
This detailed data infrastructure allows us to analyse characteristics of the workforce and at the firm-level together, capturing dynamics that are often missed in survey-based studies.
The project is guided by the following key research questions:
Extensive descriptive analysis reveals substantial heterogeneity across Austrian firms—not only in terms of firm size, but also with respect to workforce composition (e.g., education, migration background, part-time employment) and key economic characteristics such as capital intensity, labour costs, and total value added.
Building on these insights, the econometric analysis - drawing on fixed effects models, generalized method of moments estimators (GMM), and Bayesian approaches - aims to identify the relationship between workforce ageing and firm productivity. By combining rich register data with rigorous econometric analysis, the project contributes to a deeper understanding of this societally and economically highly relevant issue, with tailor-made answers for the Austrian case. The findings will support policymakers in designing strategies to harness the potential of older workers and promote inclusive and resilient economic transitions amid ongoing demographic and technological change.
Title: Ageing workers in the Austrian labour market - Linked Employer-employee Data Analysis
Acronym: LEDA
Funding Body: The project is funded by the Data:Research:Austria funding programme of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
Project Number: DATA_2023-36_LEDA
Project Investigator at VID: Alexia Fürnkranz-Prskawetz
Project Coordinator and Partner: Bernhard Mahlberg (IWI)
Time Frame: June 2024 – May 2026
