Productivity and age: Evidence from work teams at the assembly line

The authors study the relation between workers’ age and their productivity in work teams, based on a new and unique data set that combines data on errors occurring in the production process of a large car manufacturer with detailed information on the personal characteristics of workers related to the errors. The authors correct for non-random sample selection and the potential endogeneity of the age-composition in work teams. The results suggest that productivity in this plant which is typical for large-scale manufacturing does not decline at least up to age 60.