J3 - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs

• Beyond the averages: Measuring underlying wage growth using Labour Force Survey microdata

  Staff Analytical Note 2024-23 Fares Bounajm, Tessa Devakos, Gabriela Galassi

  When it comes to understanding the influence of labour costs on inflation, average wage growth is a misleading indicator because it is affected by composition effects. We propose an alternative measure that corrects for these effects by using microdata from the Labour Force Survey. Our new measure has many desirable properties, including reduced volatility and a better relationship with labour market fundamentals.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Labour markets JEL Code(s): C, C3, C31, J, J2, J21, J3, J30, J31, J8, J82

• Let’s Get Physical: Impacts of Climate Change Physical Risks on Provincial Employment

  Staff Working Paper 2024-32 Thibaut Duprey, Soojin Jo, Geneviève Vallée

  We analyze 40 years’ worth of natural disasters using a local projection framework to assess their impact on provincial labour markets in Canada. We find that disasters decrease hours worked within a week and lower wage growth in the medium run. Our study highlights that disasters affect vulnerable workers through the income channel.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Climate change, Labour markets, Regional economic developments JEL Code(s): C, C3, C33, E, E2, E24, J, J3, Q, Q5, Q54

• Benchmarks for assessing labour market health: 2024 update

  Staff Analytical Note 2024-8 Erik Ens, Alexander Lam, Kurt See, Gabriela Galassi

  We assess the health of the Canadian labour market. We find that it has seen gradual but material easing since 2023, amid some signs of structural changes.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Econometric and statistical methods, Labour markets, Monetary policy JEL Code(s): E, E2, J, J2, J3, J6

• The Heterogeneous Impacts of Job Displacement: Evidence from Canadian Job Separation Records

  Staff Working Paper 2023-55 Serdar Birinci, Youngmin Park, Kurt See

  When estimating earnings losses upon job separation, existing strategies focus on separations in mass layoffs to distinguish involuntary separations from voluntary separations. We revisit the measurement of the sources and consequences of job displacement using Canadian job separation records.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Labour markets, Potential output, Productivity JEL Code(s): E, E2, E24, E3, E32, J, J3, J31, J6, J63, J65

• Labor Market Shocks and Monetary Policy

  Staff Working Paper 2023-52 Serdar Birinci, Fatih Karahan, Yusuf Mercan, Kurt See

  We develop a heterogeneous-agent New Keynesian model featuring a frictional labor market with on-the-job search to quantitatively study the positive and normative implications of employer-to-employer transitions for inflation.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Inflation and prices, Labour markets, Monetary policy JEL Code(s): E, E1, E12, E2, E24, E5, E52, J, J3, J31, J6, J62, J64

• Labour Supply and Firm Size

  Staff Working Paper 2023-47 Lin Shao, Faisal Sohail, Emircan Yurdagul

  This paper documents a systematic pattern of how wages, hours and their relationship vary across firms of different sizes. Using a model with heterogeneous firms and workers, we show how the interplay between wages, hours and firm size affect worker sorting and inequality.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Firm dynamics, Labour markets JEL Code(s): E, E2, E24, J, J2, J3, J31

• Demographic Origins of the Decline in Labor’s Share

  Staff Working Paper 2023-20 Andrew Glover, Jacob Short

  Declining labour market dynamism of workers results in an increasing wedge between their earnings and their marginal product as they age. This wedge and the demographic shift in the earnings shares of older workers can account for 59% of the decline in labor’s share of earnings in the United States.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Labour markets, Productivity JEL Code(s): D, D3, D33, E, E2, E25, J, J1, J3, J6, J62

• Are Working Hours Complements in Production?

  Staff Working Paper 2022-47 Lin Shao, Faisal Sohail, Emircan Yurdagul

  Using Canadian matched employer-employee data, we show that working hours of different workers are gross complements in production rather than perfect substitutes, as is typically assumed by macroeconomic models of production.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Economic models, Labour markets JEL Code(s): E, E2, E23, J, J2, J22, J23, J3, J31

• Has wage setting changed in Canada? Evidence from the pre-pandemic 2020 Wage-Setting Survey

  Staff Analytical Note 2022-10 David Amirault, Sarah Miller, Matthieu Verstraete

  Just before the pandemic began, the Bank of Canada conducted the 2020 Wage-Setting Survey. The goal was to explore the unusual trend of subdued wage growth in 2018 and 2019 despite a tightening in the labour market. Although this wage puzzle was beginning to resolve at the time of the survey, results highlight changes in several factors that may have important impacts on wage dynamics.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Topic(s): Central bank research, Labour markets JEL Code(s): J, J3, J31, J32, J33, J6, J63

• Income Inequality in Canada

  Staff Discussion Paper 2022-16 Sarah Burkinshaw, Yaz Terajima, Carolyn A. Wilkins

  Data show that income inequality in Canada increased substantially during the 1980s and first half of the 1990s but has been relatively stable over the past 25 years. This increase was felt mainly by low-income earners and younger people, while older people benefited from higher retirement income.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Central bank research, Labour markets, Monetary and financial indicators JEL Code(s): D, D3, D31, D6, D63, I, I2, I24, I3, I32, J, J3, J31, J32, N, N3, N32