diff --git a/base/abstractarray.jl b/base/abstractarray.jl
index 200586213cc90..cbf6a321d8286 100644
--- a/base/abstractarray.jl
+++ b/base/abstractarray.jl
@@ -888,7 +888,7 @@ julia> empty([1.0, 2.0, 3.0], String)
 String[]
 ```
 """
-empty(a::AbstractVector{T}, ::Type{U}=T) where {T,U} = Vector{U}()
+empty(a::AbstractVector{T}, ::Type{U}=T) where {T,U} = similar(a, U, 0)
 
 # like empty, but should return a mutable collection, a Vector by default
 emptymutable(a::AbstractVector{T}, ::Type{U}=T) where {T,U} = Vector{U}()
diff --git a/test/abstractarray.jl b/test/abstractarray.jl
index 8762440a2f25a..6552f0c2ccb96 100644
--- a/test/abstractarray.jl
+++ b/test/abstractarray.jl
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@ using Random, LinearAlgebra
 isdefined(Main, :InfiniteArrays) || @eval Main include("testhelpers/InfiniteArrays.jl")
 using .Main.InfiniteArrays
 
+isdefined(Main, :StructArrays) || @eval Main include("testhelpers/StructArrays.jl")
+using .Main.StructArrays
+
 A = rand(5,4,3)
 @testset "Bounds checking" begin
     @test checkbounds(Bool, A, 1, 1, 1) == true
@@ -999,6 +1002,16 @@ end
     @test isempty(v)
     @test isempty(v2::Vector{Int})
     @test isempty(v3::Vector{Float64})
+
+    S = StructArrays.StructArray{Complex{Int}}((v, v))
+    for T in (Complex{Int}, ComplexF64)
+        S0 = empty(S, T)
+        @test S0 isa StructArrays.StructArray{T}
+        @test length(S0) == 0
+    end
+    S0 = empty(S, String)
+    @test S0 isa Vector{String}
+    @test length(S0) == 0
 end
 
 @testset "CartesianIndices" begin
diff --git a/test/testhelpers/StructArrays.jl b/test/testhelpers/StructArrays.jl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..f03b07f4e60ad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/testhelpers/StructArrays.jl
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+module StructArrays
+
+struct StructArray{T,N,C <: Tuple{Vararg{AbstractArray{<:Any,N}}}} <: AbstractArray{T,N}
+    components :: C
+
+    function StructArray{T,N,C}(components::C) where {T,N,C}
+        fieldcount(T) == length(components) || throw(ArgumentError("number of components incompatible with eltype"))
+        allequal(axes.(components)) || throw(ArgumentError("component arrays must have the same axes"))
+        new{T,N,C}(components)
+    end
+end
+
+function StructArray{T}(components::Tuple{Vararg{AbstractArray{<:Any,N}}}) where {T,N}
+    StructArray{T,N,typeof(components)}(components)
+end
+
+Base.size(S::StructArray) = size(S.components[1])
+Base.axes(S::StructArray) = axes(S.components[1])
+function Base.getindex(S::StructArray{T,N}, inds::Vararg{Int,N}) where {T,N}
+    vals = map(x -> x[inds...], S.components)
+    T(vals...)
+end
+function Base.setindex!(S::StructArray{T,N}, val, inds::Vararg{Int,N}) where {T,N}
+    vals = getfield.(Ref(convert(T, val)), fieldnames(T))
+    for (A,v) in zip(S.components, vals)
+        A[inds...] = v
+    end
+    S
+end
+
+isnonemptystructtype(::Type{T}) where {T} = isstructtype(T) && fieldcount(T) != 0
+
+function Base.similar(S::StructArray, ::Type{T}, dims::Tuple{Int, Vararg{Int}}) where {T}
+    isnonemptystructtype(T) || return similar(S.components[1], T, dims)
+    arrs = similar.(S.components, fieldtypes(T), Ref(dims))
+    StructArray{T}(arrs)
+end
+
+end