Project Details
Projekt
Demographic Change and Regional Labour Markets
Applicant
Professor Dr. Thomas K. Bauer
Subject Area
Statistics and Econometrics
Economic Policy, Applied Economics
Economic Policy, Applied Economics
Term
from 2014 to 2018
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 256808454
The public and scientific discussion about the demographic change, i.e. the simultaneous shrinkage and aging of society, concentrates on the effects of the demographic development on social security systems and the potential consequences of a shortage in skilled labor for the economic development. The regional perspective, however, is often neglected, although the demographic change shows a considerable regional heterogeneity. There are various theoretical considerations on the effects of demographic change on regional labor markets, as well as on the potential adaptation responses of the workforce and enterprises. Empirical evidence on the regional labor market effects of demographic change or the adaptation reactions is comparatively rare, not least due to the lack of availability of suitable data, and is mainly concentrates on case studies of individual regions.Due to newly available data sets, such as the employment statistics at the Research Data Center (FDZ) of the Federal Agency for Employment at the IAB, the migration statistics of the residents' offices, which can be obtained via the Federal Statistical Office, as well as the growing availability of georeferenced data, more detailed analyses on the regional level are now possible. The following questions are at the center of the research project and are to be answered empirically: What are the demographic patterns in Germany in terms of regional differences and similarities and how do this patterns correlate with the development of local labor markets? Does the regionally heterogeneous age structure lead to age-specific internal migration within Germany and which regional characteristics determine the location choice of internal and international migrants? How do firms react to the demographic structure of their location with regard to their employment policy? How does the changed age structure affect wages and wealth? In the prolongation of the project we aim to analyze the development of spatial demographic polarization in more detail as well as the labor market participation of women and the elderly. The former concentrates on the question whether the location choice of international migrants, which has not been in the focus of the project in its first phase, amplify or mitigate the spatial demographic polarization in Germany. The second goal of the project is to investigate whether spatial demographic change affects the labour supply of women and the elderly.
DFG Programme
Priority Programmes
