Population Ageing and Labor Force Distribution in Brazil: Age Decomposition of Participation Rates by Economic Sectors

Marcos Damasceno, Cedeplar, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG)

How could the labor force distribution be affected in a context of population ageing and intense technological and productive innovations? Using data from Brazilian labor market, this research analyzed basic indicators such as mean age of workers, labor force participation rates and performed an age decomposition of the variation in these rates for different economic sectors from 2012 to 2022, seeking a better understanding of the extent to which age could determine a concentration of younger or older workers in different activities. Findings so far suggest that, despite a general ageing of the Brazilian working population, the underlying cause and intensity of this process can change from one sector to another, supporting the hypothesis that age could operate and interact with other variables that drive the dynamics of supply and demand for work in a more complex way.

Keywords: Population Ageing, Decomposition analysis, Economic Demography

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