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232 Results

November 22, 2003

Recent Labour Market Developments in Canada

In the year and a half leading up to mid-2003, both employment and labour force participation increased at an unusually rapid pace compared to domestic economic activity. Gains in employment were unusually large, relative to output growth, compared to gains in total hours worked. This is explained by a faster rate of increase in the participation rate of the 55 and older age group, many of whom opted for part-time employment. This shift in the composition of employment contributed to a reduction in the length of the average workweek in 2002. As a result, labour input progressed at a rate that was markedly slower than for employment and more in line with its historical relationship to output growth. The authors anticipate that the 55 and older age group will continue to participate strongly in the labour force, but that as the economy rebounds and uncertainty diminishes, the cyclical component in the growth of part-time work should diminish and that of full-time employment increase. Employment growth should moderate in relation to output growth and there may be a cyclical rebound in labour productivity as total hours worked increases during the initial recovery in output growth.
Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Research Topic(s): Labour markets

Technological Change and the Education Premium in Canada: Sectoral Evidence

Staff Working Paper 2003-18 Jean Farès, Terence Yuen
It has been well documented that the education premium measured by the wage difference between university and high school graduates has remained constant over the past two decades in Canada. Despite this stable pattern at the aggregate level, skill-biased technology could have important implications for the inter-industry wage structure.
Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Labour markets JEL Code(s): J, J3, J31, O, O3, O30

How Rigid Are Nominal-Wage Rates?

Staff Working Paper 2001-8 Allan Crawford
This study examines the effect of nominal-wage rigidities on wage growth in Canada using a hazard model and micro data for union contracts. The hazard model is specified in a way that allows considerable flexibility in the shape of the estimated notional wage-change distribution.
Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Inflation targets, Labour markets JEL Code(s): E, E2, E24, E5, E52, E6, E61

Downward Nominal-Wage Rigidity: Micro Evidence from Tobit Models

Staff Working Paper 2001-7 Allan Crawford, Geoff Wright
This paper uses Tobit models and data for union contracts to examine the extent of downward nominal-wage rigidity in Canada. To be consistent with important stylized facts, the models allow the variance of the notional wage-change distribution to be time-varying and test for menu-cost effects.
Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Inflation targets, Labour markets JEL Code(s): E, E2, E24, E5, E52, E6, E61
August 15, 2000

Restructuring in the Canadian Economy: A Survey of Firms

Towards the end of the 1980s and into the early 1990s, the Canadian economy experienced a number of structural changes. These included free trade agreements (both the FTA and NAFTA), significant technological advances, deregulation in many sectors of the economy, the arrival of large, U.S.-based retailers, and the introduction of the GST.

Employment Effects Of Nominal-Wage Rigidity: An Examination Using Wage-Settlements Data

Staff Working Paper 2000-14 Umar Faruqui
The argument advocating a moderate level of inflation based on the downward nominal-wage rigidity (DNWR) hypothesis rests on three factors: its presence, extent, and negative impact in the labour market. This paper focuses on the employment effect of DNWR.
Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Labour markets JEL Code(s): C, C2, C23, J, J2, J23, J3, J30
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