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The article presents a study of earnings implications of person years lost life expectancy among Canada's aboriginal peoples. Overall, Canada has one of the world's highest national life expectancies. This benefit is not shared by Canada's aboriginal population, however, which has a life expectancy approximately seven years less than the general population. The aboriginal population also differs in that it has a higher fertility rate and higher mortality rates among infants and young adults. One of the consequences of the mortality differential is that the number of person years of lost life (PYLL) expectancy is large for the aboriginal community in comparison to the general population. While several studies have focused on the causes of differential mortality, this study examines some of the socio-economic consequences of differences in PYLL. Examining wage labor income, for example, determines that the PYLL differential translates into an expected wage and salary loss of approximately $1.56 billion.

This article addresses three questions: 1) Why study intra-Aboriginal inequality? 2) What is the gap in wages and income between the general Canadian population and the different Aboriginal peoples? and 3) How much inequality exists within the Aboriginal groups and between Aboriginal groups and the non-Aboriginal population? The article points to a general pattern of increase in measured disparity and polarization in income for all Aboriginal groups in comparison to the non-Aboriginal population. In terms of intra-Aboriginal inequality, Aboriginal groups rank from Inuit at the high end, through Status Indians, to non-status Indians and, finally, to Métis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historically, self-employment was perceived as a mechanism whereby immigrants could circumvent discriminatory practices in wage labor. More recent research by Borjas in the United States, however, suggests that this view is incorrect. Immigrants, particularly members of visible minorities, are disadvantaged in both the wage labor and the self-employed markets. This pattern has not been replicated in Canada, however; after controlling for several socioeconomic attributes, it is found that foreign-born, self-employed visible minority-group members are not at a disadvantage in relation to the majority population. Foreign-born visible minority group members earn less, however, in the wage labor force. In contrast, it was found that there is no statistically significant difference between native-born visible minority group members and others in the wage labor force, and that native-born, self-employed minority-group members may earn more than others in that market segment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]