Search

This paper studies the effects of occupational licensing in Canada on the earnings of immigrants and nonimmigrants. The econometric model is estimated for immigrants and non-immigrants as well as between joiners and leavers from occupationally licensed jobs using a large panel data set. The results suggest that occupational licensing raises wages more for immigrant workers than for non-immigrants with similar observed characteristics. However, the probability of being in an occupationally licensed job is lower for immigrants as compared to non-immigrants. The implications of these findings for whether immigrants gain or lose from occupational licensing are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the implication of the decision to give 2006 Census respondents the option of letting Statistics Canada access their income tax files rather than answering income-related questions directly. We find that giving respondents the option to share their income tax files (or not) adds a confounding factor when it comes to measuring family-income inequality, particularly for the bottom tail of the distribution. The consent decision does not, however, materially affect the estimation of standard wage equations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the impact of a recent recommendation made by Quebec's Comité consultatif de lutte contre la pauvreté et l'exclusion sociale to guarantee every individual an income equal to 80 percent of Statistics Canada's Market Basket Measure (MBM). Workers with earnings at least equivalent to 16 hours at the minimum wage would be entitled to 100 percent of the MBM. We also investigate the impact of three alternative proposals: (a) a change in the above hours cut-off from 16 to 30 hours; (b) a guaranteed income equal to 100 percent of the MBM, irrespective of earnings; and (c) a $3/hour conditional wage subsidy. To do this, we first estimate a structural labour supply model using the existing tax code and predict the labour supply of a representative sample of individuals based upon the parameter estimates of the model. Simulations show that the original recommendation would have strong negative impacts on participation rates of low earners and that its cost would exceed $2 billion. Increasing the hours cut-off is predicted to have little impact beyond that of the original recommendation. Providing a guaranteed income equivalent to 100 percent of the MBM, on the other hand, would have a large impact. We find that contrary to what is usually assumed, guaranteed income schemes may increase the incidence of low income rather than decrease it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considerable concern has recently been expressed worldwide about growing income inequality. Much of the discussion, though, has been in general terms and focused on the US experience. To understand whether and how Canada ought to respond to this development, we need to be clear on the facts. This paper documents Canadian patterns in income inequality and investigates the top 1 percent of earners-the group receiving the most attention. We summarize what is known about the causes of growing income inequality, including the role of gender wage differences. Finally, we outline policy options for reducing-or slowing the growth of-inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I provide evidence that suggests selective retirement does not bias estimates of wage losses due to displacement. I estimate the magnitude of hourly wage losses faced by workers who are displaced when over the age of 50. I account for the self-selection of older workers into retirement, which prevents observation of some workers' potential wage losses. The results confirm that high tenured older workers face large wage losses following displacement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares changes in relative wages of university educated new immigrant workers in Canada and the United States over the period 1980-2005 and finds that outcomes were generally superior in the United States. Wages of university educated new immigrants declined relative to domestic born university graduates over the study period in Canada but rose between 1990 and 2000 in the United States. The university wage premium for new immigrants was similar in both countries in 1980 but by 2000 was considerably higher in the United States. Accounting for compositional shifts did not alter these basic results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The labour market outcomes of Aboriginal postsecondary graduates have received very little attention in the research literature. The purpose of this paper is to build on the existing research in the area by investigating the early earnings and employment outcomes of male and female Aboriginals with various postsecondary credentials (i.e., trades, college, and university), and compare their outcomes with those of visible minorities and the rest of the population. The results of this study show that visible-minority postsecondary graduates earn more than do Aboriginals and non-minorities. However, when controlling for socio-demographic characteristics and type of postsecondary attainment (i.e., level of schooling and field of study), Aboriginals earn more than both non-minorities and visible minorities. The extent of these earnings differences depends on both gender and level of schooling. Despite their relatively favourable earnings outcomes, Aboriginal postsecondary graduates generally experience poorer employment prospects. The implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at changes in hourly wages and hours worked per week of prime-age males in different skill groups (measured by earnings quintile) in the United States and Canada from 1981 to 1997. The analysis reveals that increases in hourly wage inequality are primarily responsible for increases in weekly earnings inequality in both countries. Increases in the dispersion of hours worked per week play a more important part in explaining the increase in earnings inequality in Canada than in the United States. High-skill workers experienced increases in earnings growth due to increases in hours and, at least for the US, increases in wages. In contrast, low-skill workers experienced declines in earnings growth due to decreases in wages and hours. This evidence is consistent with a skill-biased demand shock. In Canada a larger percentage of the reduction in earnings of low-skill workers is accounted for by declining hours. This evidence suggests a higher degree of downward wage rigidity in Canada than in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the publication of Watson (1986) it has been accepted that the efficiency gains from the Canadian equalization system are small compared to the costs. In this paper, we reassess this result, making the point that gains from the reallocation of labour arise from the total migration of workers, not just from a one-year flow of migrants as used in the earlier calculations. This revision makes a large difference. The benefit-cost ratio of the equalization changes assessed (those between 1971 and 1976) rises from less than 0.02 in the Watson analysis, to 1.61, suggesting that equalization might improve efficiency after all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

La littérature, largement basée sur les données du recensement en coupe transversale, a suggéré que les récentes vagues d'immigrants au Canada gagnent moins que celles arrivées plus tôt en comparaison avec les salalres des Canadiens. Les données de base longitudinales sur l'immigration développées par Citoyenneté et Immigration Canada ainsi que Statistiques Canada fournissent des données assez riches pour étudier les profils des salaires des immigrants. Grâice à l'étude de ces tableaux, cet article cherche à estimer l'écart initial des salaires entre les immigrants et les Canadiens ainsi que la capacité des immigrants à combler cet écart. Cet article propose également de calculer le nombre d'années qu'ils ont pris pour atteindre un équilibre salarial avec les Canadiens. Les résultats montrent que les récentes vagues d'immigrants gagnent moins, initialement, que les premieres. Cependant, elles ont réussi à combler l'écart salarial plus rapidement. Des explications expérimentales sont offertes. The literature, largely based on cross-sectional census data, has suggested that recent immigrant cohorts to Canada earned less than earlier ones relative to Canadians' earnings. The Longitudinal Immigration Data Base (IMDB) developed by Citizenship and Immigration Canada and Statistics Canada provides rich data for studying immigrants' longitudinal earnings profiles. Using custom-made IMDB tables, this paper estimates the initial earnings gap between immigrants and Canadians, and immigrants' catch-up capacity, defined as the number of years immigrants took, or expected to take, to reach earnings parity with Canadians. The findings show that recent immigrant cohorts earned less initially than earlier ones, but caught up faster. Some tentative explanations and policy implications are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses LAD panel data to investigate how variability of workers' earnings and earnings instability for Canada changed between 1982-89 and 1990-97. Following the methodology of Gottschalk and Moffitt (1994), we decompose the total variation of workers' earnings into permanent variation and a transitory component (or earnings instability). It is found that: (i) there has been an increase in overall earnings variability among Canadian workers between the two sub-periods, with the increase much more marked among men, particularly with non-continuous labour market attachment; (ii) the greatest part of this increase in earnings variability was driven by widening "permanent" earnings differentials across workers and not by transitory movements in individuals' earnings; and (iii) men's earnings variability tends to be U-shaped across ages, whereas it is much flatter for women, and for both sexes earnings instability is high for young workers and decreases with age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ontario experience with respect to pay equity is evaluated based on a set of program-evaluation citeria. Such criteria are informative in their own right, but they also provide a systematic way of categorizing the issues that are involved in evaluating pay equity in general, with the Ontario experience providing a useful illustration of the evaluation principles. The program-evaluation criteria are first outlined, with an application to pay equity in general and the Ontario experience in particular. Illustrations from some case studies are used to highlight some of the program-evaluation issues. The paper concludes with a discussion of lessons that can be learned from the Ontario experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]