Journal Article

Wages and ageing: is there evidence for the 'inverse-U' profile?

Authors

Publication date

2010

Abstract

How individual wages change with time is one of the crucial determinants of labour market decisions including the timing of retirement. The focus of this paper is the relationship between age and wages with special attention given to individuals nearing retirement. The analysis is presented in a comparative context for Britain and Germany looking at two longitudinal data sets (BHPS and SOEP, respectively) for the years 1995-2004. We show the importance of cohort effects and selection out of employment which determine the downward-sloping part of the 'inverse-U' profile observed in cross-sections. There is little evidence that wages fall with age.

Published in

Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics

Volume

72 (3):282-306

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0084.2009.00582.x

Subjects

Older People and Wages And Earnings

Links

http://serlib0.essex.ac.uk/record=b1584905~S5

Notes

Wiley alert; Originally 'Early View' 23 Mar. 2010; Web of Knowledge alert; Albert Sloman Library Periodicals *restricted to Univ. Essex registered users*

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