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Ample evidence indicates that a person's human capital is important for success on the labor market in terms of both wages and employment prospects. However, unlike the efforts to identify the impact of school attainment on labor-market outcomes, the literature on returns to cognitive skills has not yet provided convincing evidence that the estimated returns can be causally interpreted. Using the PIAAC Survey of Adult Skills, this paper explores several approaches that aim to address potential threats to causal identification of returns to skills, in terms of both higher wages and better employment chances. We address measurement error by exploiting the fact that PIAAC measures skills in several domains. Furthermore, we estimate instrumental-variable models that use skill variation stemming from school attainment and parental education to circumvent reverse causation. Results show a strikingly similar pattern across the diverse set of countries in our sample. In fact, the instrumental-variable estimates are consistently larger than those found in standard least-squares estimations. The same is true in two "natural experiments," one of which exploits variation in skills from changes in compulsory-schooling laws across U.S. states. The other one identifies technologically induced variation in broadband Internet availability that gives rise to variation in ICT skills across German municipalities. Together, the results suggest that least-squares estimates may provide a lower bound of the true returns to skills in the labor market.

This paper characterizes vulnerable workers in Canada and the federal jurisdiction, based upon characteristics such as employment status, demographic characteristics, and job characteristics, and identifies areas in which labour standards may have a role. Based on this analysis, the paper evaluates the potential for labour standards to address economic vulnerability, focusing on labour standards policies aimed at wages and benefits, hours, and employment arrangements. In addition, the analysis considers the extent to which labour standards are likely to reach vulnerable workers. The results suggest several potential roles for labour standards and highlights policy implications.

The theory developed in this paper integrates the effects of three factors — the relative supply elasticities of skilled and unskilled labor, adjustments in skilled labor hiring standards, and the presence of fixed employment costs for skilled labor — on the response of skill differentials to demand variation. The analysis suggests that the short-run behavior of the skilled wage differential is not predictable — an increase (or decrease) in the rate of economic activity may widen or narrow the skill differential or leave it unchanged. It is also argued that any initial impact of demand variation on the skill differential will subsequently be reversed, either partially or fully. Empirical estimates for the Canadian manufacturing sector over the period 1953–72 are generally consistent with the theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the substitutability or complementarity between Canadian-born and immigrant workers. These are examined by estimating a set of wage equations using a generalized Leontief production function. The paper finds that, in general, there is no displacement of Canadian-born workers by immigrants. Recent immigrants affect the native-born positively, while older immigrants are neither substitute nor complement for natives. However, the effects differ across industries. Overall, the evidence that immigrants harm the opportunities of native-born workers is scant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper a model of wage and employment determination in a unionized industry is developed and estimated. The model incorporates rules governing union membership so that an insider-outsider model can be estimated. This approach allows the trade-off the union makes between wages and employment to vary depending on whether membership is growing or contracting. The model is estimated using data on the International Woodworkers of America and the wood products industry in British Columbia, Canada. The insider outsider model is consistently rejected in favour of models in which some positive weight is placed on all levels of employment. The results do suggest however that the weight the union places on employment decreases with the level of employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Public Policy is the property of University of Toronto Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Economics is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Canadian Public Policy is the property of University of Toronto Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Economics is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Economics is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Economics is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Economics is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Incomes policies invariably arouse considerable opposition. It is claimed that they are costly to administer, that, by tinkering with relative prices, they riddle the economy with inefficiencies and that they politicise economic life. It is also argued that where controls do have an impact on wage rates and prices, a point which is by no means universally conceded, agents are driven to (costly) behaviour designed to neutralise effective wage and price ceilings, e.g. wage drift and quality changes. In this paper, the impact of Canada's recent programme of wage controls on wage contract duration was examined. A number of recent papers have suggested that, in addition to contracting costs, inflation uncertainty is an important determinant of contract lengths in the labour market. Using a very large number of individual agreements, it was found that controls are associated with a statistically significant decline in the duration of wage contracts signed in both the private and public sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to analyse the Canadian wage determination process using micro-data derived from individual union wage contracts, signed during the 1966-1975 time period. Conventional wage studies based on aggregate time series are subject to a number of important econometric criticisms arising from their failure to specify correctly the institutional features of the labour market (such as multi-year contracts, deferred increments and the variability of the bargaining calendar). Use of micro-data prior to aggregation not only avoids most of these institutional econometric problems, but also makes possible a precise investigation of several important theoretical and policy issues. In particular, it is possible to separate expected inflation from uncompensated past inflation and to investigate the impact of each type of inflation on the wage determination process. We also pay attention to the changing structure of the Canadian labour market and to the possible impact of the 1971 Unemployment Insurance Act (UIA) revision on Canadian wage inflation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Public Policy is the property of University of Toronto Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Industrial Relations / Relations Industrielles is the property of Universite Laval, Department of Industrial Relations and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Using the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics, the incidence of skills mismatches in the Canadian workforce was found to be about 27 percent. The overeducated (undereducated) were found to earn less (more) than their adequately educated counterparts. The overeducated could realize a wage gain by finding the "right" job, while the undereducated would gain by adjusting their skill level. Based on the Oaxaca decomposition, it was concluded that better skills allocation would help to narrow gender wage differentials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Industrial Relations / Relations Industrielles is the property of Universite Laval, Department of Industrial Relations and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The paper employs data from the 1986-87 Labour Market Activity Survey to investigate empirically how the wage rates of female paid workers in Canada change when they change jobs, in particular whether Canadian women realize short-run wage gains from job mobility. Following Mincer (1986), we estimate the short-run wage gain to job mobility by comparing the between-job wage changes of "current-period" job movers with the on-the-job wage growth of "next-period" job movers. The findings indicate that Canadian women who changed jobs in 1986 realized short-run wage gains of 8-9 percent, and that women who quit their first job for nonpersonal (job-related) reasons realized substantially greater wage gains than did women who quit for personal reasons, were laid off, or separated for other reasons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use Census and Labour Force Survey (LFS) data for the period from 1971 to 2012 to investigate whether the Canadian wage and employment structures have polarized, that is, whether wages and employment have grown more in high- and low- than in middle-paying occupations. We find that there has been faster growth in employment in both high- and low-paying occupations than those in the middle since 1981. However, up to 2005, the wage pattern reflects a simple increase in inequality with greater growth in high-paid than middle-paid occupations and greater growth in middle than low-paid occupations. Since 2005, there has been some polarization but this is present only in some parts of the country and seems to be related more to the resource boom than technological change. We present results for the US to provide a benchmark. The Canadian patterns fit with those in the US and other countries apart from the 1990s when the US undergoes wage polarization not seen elsewhere. We argue that the Canadian data do not fit with the standard technological change model of polarization developed for the US. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate differences in labour market transition rates between high and low minimum wage regimes using Canadian data spanning 1979-2008. We find that higher minimum wages result in lower hiring rates but also lower job separation rates. Importantly, the reduced separation rates are due mainly to reductions in layoffs, occur in the first six months of a job and are present for unskilled workers of all ages. Thus, jobs in higher minimum wage regimes are more stable but harder to get. For older workers, these effects are almost exactly offsetting, resulting in little impact on the employment rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the micro files of the Canadian Census we document an increasing earnings penalty for cohorts of immigrants arriving after the late-1970s, especially for the most recent cohort. We also find much quicker assimilation rates for these cohorts, especially for the most recent cohort. Since the late-1970s, the increasing earnings penalty dominated their more rapid assimilation, so that immigrants exhibited ever-deteriorating patterns of integration into the Canadian labour market. For the most recent cohort (2002–2006), this reversed itself, suggesting that the tide may have turned. We find this for both men and women. Our findings are robust across alternative regression specifications, as well as a sample that only considers full-time and full-year workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Studies in Population is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Canadian Public Policy is the property of University of Toronto Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Canadian Public Policy is the property of University of Toronto Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Although economic theory predicts an inverse relation between relative wages and immigration-induced supply shifts, it has been difficult to document such effects. The weak evidence may be partly due to sampling error in a commonly used measure of the supply shift, the immigrant share of the workforce. After controlling for permanent factors that determine wages in specific labor markets, little variation remains in the immigrant share. We find significant sampling error in this measure of supply shifts in Canadian and U.S. census data. Correcting for the resulting attenuation bias can substantially increase existing estimates of the wage impact of immigration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We construct a new time series on the Canadian female/male pay ratio. The new series is based on wage data rather than the earnings data that have been used in the past. Wages more closely correspond to the price of labour, while earnings combine information on the price of labour with information on decisions of how much to work. Our results reveal significant differences between the wage- and earnings-based series. Most importantly, the wage series reveals that women have continued to make progress over the last 15 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Economics is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Economics is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Discusses the factors behind the disappearance of jobs in Canada. Median wages during the 1981-2004 period in Canada; Importance of analyzing the evolution of newly hired employees; Occurrence of age-earnings differential during 1980s; Changes in the age-wage profile of labor market entrants.

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Economics is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

We study the role of credentials or ‘sheepskin effects’ in the Canadian labour market. Sheepskin effects refer to increases in wages associated with the receipt of a degree after controlling for educational inputs such as years of schooling. We find strong evidence of sheepskin effects associated with graduation from high school, community college or trade school, and university. The importance of credentials increases with educational attainment, accounting for 30 per cent of the return to 16 years of schooling but more than half of returns above 16 years. Our evidence indicates that both years of schooling and degree completion influence earnings. JEL Classification: I2, J3 Le rôle des certificats dans le marché du travail au Canada. Les auteurs étudient le rôle des certificats ou des «effets de parchemin» dans le marché du travail au Canada. Les effets de parchemin font référence aux augmentations de salaires associées à l’obtention d’un diplôme ou d’un grade après avoir pris en compte l’expérience éducationnelle comme les années d'éducation. On découvre des résultats probants pour ce qui est des effets de parchemin associés à l’obtention d’un diplôme d'école secondaire, de collège communautaire, d'école technique, et d’université. L’importance de la certification augmente avec le niveau d’instruction : elle compte pour 30 pourcent du rendement pour 16 années de scolarité mais pour plus de la moitié des rendements pour la scolarité au delà de ces premiers 16 ans. Les résultats indiquent que tant les années de scolarité que la certification comme telle ont un impact sur les gains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract. According to the 1981 census of Canada the female rate of pay is 30 per cent less than the male rate. The average female wage offer, however, is only around one-half of that received by males, other things the same. Slightly more than one-half of the difference in observed wages can be explained by differences in wage-related characteristics between males and females. Two-fifths of the disparity between wage offers can be explained by the same set of factors. Analysis of the distribution of wage offers indicates greater wage inequality in the Canadian labour market than is suggested by study of observed wages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comments on the article of René Morissette and Anick Johnson concerning the changes in the relative importance of jobs in Canada from 1981 to 2004. Reasons behind the changes in wage distribution of employees; Effect of business cycle on wages; Comparison of labor markets between Canada and the U.S.; Impact of the growth of temporary jobs on the welfare of workers.

The author discusses the implication of the roles of changing characteristics and returns to skills on the rise or fall in the immigrant Canadian-born wage gap. He states the incorrect way on the use of entry cohorts as a control group to estimate changes in the immigrant-non-immigrant wage gap. Also discussed is the misleading data on the use of consensus data on the issue regarding the large initial wage gap.