Die Dis cus si on Pape rs die nen einer mög lichst schnel len Ver brei tung von neue ren For schungs arbei ten des ZEW. Die Bei trä ge lie gen in allei ni ger Ver ant wor tung der Auto ren und stel len nicht not wen di ger wei se die Mei nung des ZEW dar.Dis cus si on Papers are inten ded to make results of ZEW research prompt ly avai la ble to other eco no mists in order to encou ra ge dis cus si on and sug gesti ons for revi si ons. The aut hors are sole ly respon si ble for the con tents which do not neces sa ri ly repre sent the opi ni on of the ZEW.Download this ZEW Discussion Paper from our ftp server:http://ftp.zew.de/pub/zew-docs/dp/dp11058 .pdf Nontechnical SummaryIn most industrialised countries, the average age of the workforce has been growing rapidly during the recent years. If ageing workforces affect economic sectors differently, then the total impact of ageing depends on the industrial structure of an economy. It is therefore crucial to know how different sectors are affected by ageing workforces in order to assess the impact of ageing for the competitiveness of a country. This paper measures the impact of changes in the age structure of establishments on its productivity. Specifically, we estimate the productivity impact of different age groups separately for the services, manufacturing and metal manufacturing sectors.We use German representative linked employer-employee panel data, in order to control for the characteristics of the establishments as well as the characteristics of the employees. In theory, the age-productivity profiles for different sectors should differ. For example, the importance of physical strength or the possibilities to compensate deficits in skills are likely to differ between age and sectors. However, controlling for several potential sources of estimation biases, we find no significant differences in the age-productivity profiles between sectors. Differences between sectors in the application of specific human resource measures for old employees could provide a possible explanation for our findings. These specific measures could help to compensate sector specific deficits of older employees.The results of our study suggest that the expected impact of an ageing workforce on the economic performance is hardly influenced by the industrial structure of the economy. Das Wichtigste in KürzeIm Laufe der letzten Jahre stieg das Durchschnittsalter der Beschäftigten in fast allen AbstractIn most industrialised countries, the workforce is ageing rapidly. If ageing workforces affect sectors differently, the total impact of ageing will depend on the industrial structure of an economy. This paper measures the impact of changes in the age structure of establishments on productivity using representative linked employeremployee panel data. We argue that establishment age-productivity profiles might differ for various reasons. For example, the importance of physical strength and possibilities to compensate deficits in skills differ between sectors. We investigate differences in the a...

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