Employers’ Perception of Older Workers and Labour Demand

Abstract: With the ageing population in Sweden and the need for more working hours among older workers as background, this essay analyses labour demand for older workers. More precisely it tries to find a connection in employer perceptions of certain character traits for older contra younger workers and the propensity to hire older workers. Using a newly conducted survey sent out to Swedish establishments, this study finds two character traits where negative perceptions have an extra negative effect on hiring: creativity and endurance. Unfortunately, there is a presence of low t-statistics throughout the results which calls for further research on the subject. As a secondary objective, this study also briefly looks at the previously unexplored subject of how the age of an establishment affects labour demand. Results for this points to a small effect but in these results, there are also cases of low statistical significance.