In this paper, we analyze the workings of a small-scale program involving foundational learning that is targeted at unemployed workers in Surrey, BC by exploiting information contained in the administrative data set that was compiled through its execution. Although this data set contains huge...

About 20% of Canadians work in regulated occupations. On average, regulated occupations are expected to provide higher pay because they generally require a high level of education and/or training, and the regulations governing access to these occupations tend to restrict entrance into them....

We utilize the 2006 Census -- the first large-scale, representative Canadian data set to include information on apprenticeship certification -- to compare the returns from apprenticeships with those from other educational pathways (high school graduation, non-apprenticeship trades and community...

It is well-documented that workers displaced from long-tenure jobs tend to have difficulty finding new employment, and face even greater difficulty finding a job without suffering a substantial loss in earnings. Workers with significant prior tenure typically undergo substantial earnings losses,...

This paper investigates whether policies that encourage recipients to exit welfare for full-time employment influence participation in educational activity. The Self-Sufficiency Project (‘SSP’) was a demonstration project where long-term welfare recipients randomly assigned to the...

L’alphabétisme est capital pour l’amélioration de toute société. Tout un chacun ne peut participer entièrement au discours social et politique, et aura sans doute une position inférieure en société, s’il ne possède pas l’alphabétisme de base lui permettant d’atteindre ses...

The paper exploits the newly available Census data on the earnings of individuals in the apprenticeable trades to examine the returns to apprenticeship training. Only a small minority of males work in these trades, concentrated in the construction, production and mechanical trades where their...

Over the past two decades there has been considerable growth in the number of new apprenticeship registrations in Canada. However, this has not been matched by a corresponding increase in the number of apprenticeship completions. As a result Canadian apprenticeship programs have seen declining...

Tight labour markets driven by resource booms could increase the opportunity cost of schooling and crowd out human capital formation. For oil producing economies like the Province of Alberta, the OPEC oil shocks of 1973 to 1981 may have had an adverse long term effect on the productivity of the...