Canada: Canadian Wage Differentials with Special Attention to Its Occupational Age-Wage Profile

Abstract

Labour market performance varies a great deal among the industrialized economies. This is true not only for the conventional labour market performance measures such as the unemployment rate but also for broader measures such as income distribution. Labour market performance is determined by two elements, supply and demand conditions in the labour market and labour market institutions, both social and legal. Research in labour economics in the past has concentrated on the analysis of the impact of market conditions on market performance, assuming that the institutions are beyond the economist’s reach. As a result, our understanding of the impact of labour market institutions on labour market performance is limited.¹ As labour market institutions are believed to vary across occupations as well as national borders, it is most beneficial to enhance our lagging understanding by making a rigorous international comparison of occupational labour market performance. Based on this evaluation of the status of labour market research we will set up two purposes for this chapter.