## The Impact of Workforce Aging on European Productivity

_IMF Working Papers, December 8, 2016_

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## Bibliographic details
- Authors: Shekhar Aiyar, Christian H Ebeke
- Published: December 8, 2016
- Series: IMF Working Papers
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781475559729.001

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### Key findings
- The age-distribution of Europe’s workforce has shifted towards older workers over the past few decades, a process expected to accelerate in the years ahead.
- Workforce aging reduces growth in labor productivity, mainly through its negative effect on TFP growth.
- Projected workforce aging could reduce TFP growth by an average of 0.2 percentage points every year over the next two decades.
- A variety of policies could ameliorate this effect.

### Transmission channels and mechanisms
- Negative effect on total factor productivity (TFP) growth identified as the main channel through which workforce aging reduces labor productivity.
- The paper studies the effect of aging on labor productivity and identifies the main transmission channels (TFP-focused) and examines mitigating policies.

### Policy implications and recommendations
- Policies aimed at ameliorating the negative effect of workforce aging on productivity are feasible and important; the paper discusses a variety of such policies (details in full paper).

### Subject areas and keywords (as listed)
- Subjects: Aging, Labor, Labor force, Population and demographics, Production, Productivity, Total factor productivity
- Keywords: age group, Aging, aging workforce, effect of workforce, Europe, growth, Labor force, labor market, Policies, Productivity, Total factor productivity, workforce, Workforce Aging, workforce share, workforce skill, workforce training, WP

*Shekhar Aiyar and Christian H Ebeke, December 8, 2016.*

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2016/12/31/the-impact-of-workforce-aging-on-european-productivity-44450_