What are idiosyncratic shocks and how do people respond to them? This paper starts from the observation that idiosyncratic shocks are experienced at the individual level, but responses to shocks can encompass the whole household. Understanding and accurately modeling these responses is essential...

We utilize an instrumental variable approach to analyse the effect that dropping out of high school has on 17 outcomes pertaining to wages, employment and subsequent skill acquisition for youths. Our analysis is based on the older cohort of the Youth in Transition Survey (YITS) for 2003, an...

In this paper I estimate the magnitude of earnings losses faced by workers who are displaced when over the age of 50. This is potentially complicated by the self-selection of older individuals out of the labour force and into activities such as retirement, preventing observation of their...

This study investigates post-migration educational investment among newly arrived immigrants and examines the effect of post-migration education on new immigrants’ labour market integration, as measured by earnings and occupational status. The results indicate that younger immigrants who...

This paper examines the evolution of the returns to human capital in Canada over the period 1980-2006. Most of the analysis is based on Census data, and on weekly wage and salary earnings of full-time workers. Our main finding is that the returns to education increased substantially for Canadian...

We compare predicted relative immigrant wage profiles based on returns to YSM and to foreign and host-country sources of schooling and experience. We find the biases inherent in inferring assimilation from a return to YSM appear more substantial than those emanating from the assumptions...

This paper examines how middle-class earnings in Canada have changed between 1970 and 2005 using Census microdata. Middle-class earnings are defined as workers’ earnings between 50 and 150 percent of the median or as earnings between the 20th and 80th percentile earnings. The analysis...

La demande en personnel qualifié est très importante au Canada et les nouvelles inscriptions en apprentissage ont triplé entre 1991 et 2007. Cependant, le nombre de réussites à cet apprentissage n’a pas augmenté, et les taux de réussite ont donc chuté au cours de cette période. Une...

L’inégalité des revenus s’est considérablement accrue depuis les années 1980, la part des revenus du 1 % le plus riche augmentant de 27 % entre 1980 et 2005. Alors que cet écart croissant entre les riches et les pauvres est inquiétant, les membres affiliés du RCCMTC Abigail Payne...

Income inequality has risen significantly since the 1980s, with the share of income among the top 1% increasing by 27% between 1980 and 2005. While the widening gap between the rich and poor is concerning, CLSRN affiliates Abigail Payne (McMaster University) and Justin Smith (Wilfrid Laurier...