IT Training and Employability of Older Workers

This paper empirically analyzes the relationship between firm-provided IT training and the firm's proportion of older workers. Using data from the ZEW ICT survey of the years 2004 and 2007, the results show that a firm's IT intensity plays a crucial role: firms intensively using information technologies employ a significantly smaller proportion of older workers than firms that are less IT-intensive. However, higher participation rates of older workers in IT training are related to a larger proportion of older workers within firms. It turns out that this effect is of particular importance in firms that intensively use IT.

Schleife, Katrin (2008), IT Training and Employability of Older Workers, ZEW Discussion Paper Nr. 08-021, Mannheim.