Center for
Retirement Research
at Boston College
Hovey House
140 Commonwealth
Chestnut Hill
MA 02467-3808

617-552-1762 TEL
617-552-0191 FAX
This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

Web accessibility

 

Tags:
Click to add your tags...,
Population Aging, Labor Demand, and the Structure of Wages Print E-mail
by Margarita Sapozhnikov and Robert K. Triest

WP#2007-14

Abstract

One consequence of demographic change is substantial shifts in the age distribution of the working age population. As the baby boom generation ages, the usual historical pat tern of there being a high ratio of younger workers relative to older workers is increasingly being replaced by a pattern of there being roughly equal percentages of workers of different ages. One might expect that the increasing relative supply of older workers would lower the wage premium paid for older, more experienced workers.

This paper provides strong empirical support for this hypothesis. Econometric estimates imply that the size of one’s birth cohort affects wages throughout one’s working life, with members of relatively large cohorts (at all stages of their careers) earning a significantly lower wage than members of smaller cohorts. The cohort size effect is of approximately the same magnitude for men and for women. Our results suggest that cohort size effects are quantitatively important and should be incorporated into public policy analyses.

For full paper in PDF

 

Margarita Sapozhnikov is a senior associate at CRA International. Robert K. Triest is a visiting scholar at the CRR and a Senior Economist and Policy Advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. The research reported herein was supported by The Atlantic Philanthropies. The opinions and conclusions expressed are solely those of the authors and should not be construed as representing the opinions or policy of The Atlantic Philanthropies or the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. The authors thank Jamie Lee and Brendan Mackoff for very helpful research assistance.

 

Tags: Work and Retirement, Working Papers,
Click to add your tags...,