Cohort patterns in Canadian earnings: assessing the role of skill premia in inequality trends

In this paper we document the pattern of change in age-earnings profiles across cohorts and evaluate its implications. Using synthetic cohorts from the Survey of Consumer Finances over the period 1971 to 1993, we show that the age-earnings profiles of Canadian men have been deteriorating for more recent cohorts in comparison with older cohorts. We find this pattern for both high school and university educated workers. In no case do we find evidence that the return to gaining experience has been increasing over time, nor do we find increased within-cohort dispersion of earnings. We view these findings as conflicting with the hypothesis that increased skill premia largely explain the observed increase in dispersion of male weekly earnings.