TY - JOUR

T1 - Age and gender effects of workforce composition on productivity and profits

T2 - Evidence from a new type of data for German enterprises

AU - Pfeifer, Christian

AU - Wagner, Joachim

PY - 2014/3/31

Y1 - 2014/3/31

N2 - This empirical paper documents the relationship between the composition of a firm’s workforce (with a special focus on age and gender) and its performance (productivity and profitability) for a large representative sample of enterprises from manufacturing industries in Germany using newly available, unique data. We find concave age-productivity profiles and a negative correlation of age on firms’ profitability. Moreover, our micro-econometric analysis reveals for the first time that the ceteris paribus lower level of productivity in firms with a higher share of female employees does not go hand in hand with a lower level of profitability in these firms.

AB - This empirical paper documents the relationship between the composition of a firm’s workforce (with a special focus on age and gender) and its performance (productivity and profitability) for a large representative sample of enterprises from manufacturing industries in Germany using newly available, unique data. We find concave age-productivity profiles and a negative correlation of age on firms’ profitability. Moreover, our micro-econometric analysis reveals for the first time that the ceteris paribus lower level of productivity in firms with a higher share of female employees does not go hand in hand with a lower level of profitability in these firms.

KW - Gender and Diversity

KW - Ageing

KW - Firm performance

KW - Gender

KW - Germany

KW - productivity

KW - Profitability

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84899138049&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.5709/ce.1897-9254.129

DO - 10.5709/ce.1897-9254.129

M3 - Journal articles

VL - 8

SP - 25

EP - 46

JO - Contemporary Economics

JF - Contemporary Economics

SN - 2084-0845

IS - 1

ER -