Automation, Workforce Age Structure, and Firm Productivity: Evidence from Austrian Linked Employer-Employee Data

Bernhard Mahlberg, Isilda Mara, Alexia Fürnkranz-Prskawetz and Isabel Gerstner

No 01/2026, ECON WPS - Working Papers in Economic Theory and Policy from TU Wien, Institute of Statistics and Mathematical Methods in Economics, Economics Research Unit

Abstract: The aim of this study is to estimate the age–productivity profile of Austrian firms using a linked employer–employee dataset for the years 2013–2022. The OLS and FE estimates indicate a highly significant relationship between workforce age structure and labour productivity. Across both estimation methods, we find an inverted U-shaped age–productivity profile. We also account for capital intensity and the share of automation-related assets (ADRA). The estimation results show that firms with greater capital intensity and higher levels of automation consistently exhibit higher productivity across the distribution. In addition, the marginal effect of the share of ADRA-related capital is greater than that of the agerelated variables. These findings have important implications for both firm strategy and public policy, highlighting the role of technology diffusion, education, and potentially organisational change in sustaining productivity in ageing societies. The empirical strategy is complemented by panel data methods and robustness checks to account for persistence, unobserved heterogeneity, and potential reverse causality.

Keywords: Age-productivity profile; Labour productivity; Automation-related assets; Principal component analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D24 J14 J24 J82 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec and nep-lma
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