WORKFORCE AGING AND INDUSTRY-LEVEL PRODUCTIVITY

This paper investigates the relationship between the age structure of workforce and industry-level productivities using international panel data. We find that when the growth rate of prime-age workforce (aged between 30 and 49) falls, the growth rate of total factor productivity in industries that are highly dependent on prime-age workers tends to fall relative to that in other industries. We also present a simple general equilibrium model based on industry-level external economies of scale. We show that our empirical findings are consistent with the hypothesis that there are industry-level externalities coming from prime-age workers.