Friedrich Schiller University Jena, School of Business and Economics (Jena)

Schindele, Yvonne (Economist)

Weyh, Antje (Economist)

Employment change

liability of aging

new firms

start-up cohorts

Based on an improved and extended database, the Establishment History Panel, we extend the analysis of Fritsch & Weyh (2006) by investigating the development of employment in German start-up cohorts for the period 1976 to 2004. We confirm the typical pattern of an initial increasing and then soon decreasing number of employees in start-up cohorts. Furthermore, we provide some of the first evidence for the ”liability of aging” phenomena in Germany. Older firms face a relatively high risk of failure. Although only the largest 25% of the surviving entries grow in terms of employment, after 25 years the number of employees in these relatively large businesses strongly declines.

2008-076