Volume 13 - Article 7 | Pages 163–188

Decomposing the change in labour force indicators over time

By Alexia Prskawetz, Barbara Zagaglia, Thomas Fent, Vegard Skirbekk

Print this page  Facebook  Twitter

 

 
Date received:15 Oct 2004
Date published:21 Oct 2005
Word count:5000
Keywords:decomposition, labor force, labor force indicators, population aging
DOI:10.4054/DemRes.2005.13.7
 

Abstract

In this paper we study changes in the size and the composition of the labour force in five OECD countries from 1983 through 2000. We apply a recent decomposition method to quantify the components of the change over time in the crude labour force rate and the mean age of the labour force. Our results show that the change in the crude labour force rate was dominated by the change in age-specific labour force participation rates. For the mean age of the labour force we find that for males the change in the age composition of the population predominately explains the overall change while the results for females are less clear-cut.

Author's Affiliation

Alexia Prskawetz - Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital (IIASA, OeAW, University of Vienna), Austria [Email]
Barbara Zagaglia - Università Politecnica delle Marche, Italy [Email]
Thomas Fent - Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Austria [Email]
Vegard Skirbekk - Columbia University, United States of America [Email]

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

» How many old people have ever lived?
Volume 36 - Article 54

» Changes in economic activity: The role of age and education
Volume 36 - Article 40

» Are daughters’ childbearing intentions related to their mothers’ socio-economic status?
Volume 35 - Article 21

» The future size of religiously affiliated and unaffiliated populations
Volume 32 - Article 27

» Is Buddhism the low fertility religion of Asia?
Volume 32 - Article 1

» A cross-country comparison of math achievement at teen age and cognitive performance 40 years later
Volume 31 - Article 4

» Economic support ratios and the demographic dividend in Europe
Volume 30 - Article 34

» Family policies in the context of low fertility and social structure
Volume 29 - Article 37

» The determinants of internal mobility in Italy, 1995-2006: A comparison of Italians and resident foreigners
Volume 29 - Article 16

» The reproductive value as part of the shadow price of population
Volume 24 - Article 28

» Projection of populations by level of educational attainment, age, and sex for 120 countries for 2005-2050
Volume 22 - Article 15

» Does fertility decrease household consumption?: An analysis of poverty dynamics and fertility in Indonesia
Volume 20 - Article 26

» Austria: Persistent low fertility since the mid-1980s
Volume 19 - Article 12

» Fertility trends by social status
Volume 18 - Article 5

» The "Wedding-Ring": An agent-based marriage model based on social interaction
Volume 17 - Article 3

» Pathways to stepfamily formation in Europe: Results from the FFS
Volume 8 - Article 5

» Fertility in second unions in Austria: Findings from the Austrian FFS
Volume 3 - Article 2

Most recent similar articles in Demographic Research

» Changes in economic activity: The role of age and education
Volume 36 - Article 40    | Keywords: decomposition, population aging

» A method for socially evaluating the effects of long-run demographic paths on living standards
Volume 31 - Article 11    | Keywords: labor force, population aging

» Age reporting for the oldest old in the Brazilian COVID-19 vaccination database: What can we learn from it?
Volume 48 - Article 28    | Keywords: population aging

» Delayed first births and completed fertility across the 1940–1969 birth cohorts
Volume 48 - Article 15    | Keywords: decomposition

» COVID-19 fatality in Germany: Demographic determinants of variation in case-fatality rates across and within German federal states during the first and second waves
Volume 45 - Article 45    | Keywords: decomposition