BSQE – Workforce and firm resilience

Employee age and firm resilience

2023

The project analyzed the impact of firms‘ workforce age structures on firm’s resilience during crisis episodes in the context of the Great Recession in Spain. Administrative data was employed to measure the workforce age distribution at the province-industry level, and detailed firm-level data to track firms‘ performance during the course of the Spanish crisis. We found that an older workforce was associated with relatively higher sales and employment growth, and to a limited extent also with a higher firm productivity and investment level. This evidence indicates that firms that employ senior and experienced employees are better prepared to weather difficult times.