Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/123374 
Year of Publication: 
2007
Series/Report no.: 
WWZ Discussion Paper No. 05/07
Publisher: 
University of Basel, Center of Business and Economics (WWZ), Basel
Abstract: 
This paper examines the question, whether the growing use of new technologies and decentralized forms of work organization affects the age structure of workforces within firms. The initial idea behind this relationship is that technological and organizational change may not only be skill-biased, but also age-biased. Based on human capital theoretical explanations that mainly focus on skill obsolescence in association with the need to acquire new skills, the hypothesis of an age-biased technological and organizational change (ABTOC) is derived and tested econometrically using German firm-level data. The empirical results show that the adoption of technological and organizational innovations decreases the firms' demand for older workers and increases the demand for younger workers. Hence, ABTOC is found to be at the expense of older workers. Since ABTOC does not fit to the current development in terms of age-specific labor supply, this paper also suggests human resource management practices that encourage firms to combine the use of new technologies and organizational forms with an ageing workforce.
Subjects: 
Ageing workforces
new technologies
decentralized work organization
skill obsolescence
skill adaptation
productivity-wage-differentials
JEL: 
J23
L23
M12
M5
O33
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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