When union-firm pairs bargain sequentially, and when unobserved components of firms' abilities to pay are subject to correlated shocks, unions that bargain later in a sequence can acquire valuable information by observing previous bargaining outcomes in their industry. The authors derive the...

In contrast to nonunion workers, reemployment wages of workers displaced from unionized jobs decline with tenure on the lost job. This finding cannot easily be explained by firm- or industry-specific human capital accumulation, deferred-pay policies, standard matching models, or a correlation...

In labor markets, the ratchet effect refers to a situation where workers subject to performance pay choose to restrict their output, because they rationally anticipate that firms will respond to higher output levels by raising output requirements or by cutting pay. We model this effect as a...

This paper considers the possible role of shifts in labour demand away from unskilled workers, combined with an institutionally-generated greater labour supply elasticity in Canada, in explaining the apparent secular increase in Canadian male unemployment, and in explaining the emergence of the...

Firms' incentives to inform workers about their future viability are analyzed using a two-period signaling model. The author finds that, if wages can be set after firms learn their viability, they will perfectly signal firms' closure plans. Mandatory-notice laws, if they have any effect at all,...

According to U.S. Census and Current Population Survey (CPS) data, employed U.S. men are more likely to work more than 48 hours per week today than 25 years ago. Using 1979-2006 CPS data, we show that this increase was greatest in the 1980s, among highly educated, highly paid, and older men, and...

Since the mid-1970s, unskilled Canadian men have experienced very sizeable reductions in real wages, and they now work substantially fewer weeks per year. This article discusses a wide range of possible policy responses to this phenomenon, arguing that the best short-term response is the...

Using a new survey of Canadian job searchers, this paper attempts to measure the effect of employment equity laws on job search outcomes, and on perceptions of discrimination by both men and women. We find some evidence that employment equity coverage in a pre-separation job reduces the relative...

Employment protection laws abound in the developed world; in Canada they primarily take the form of advance notice requirements of up to four months for layoffs. Recent research on the partial-equilibrium effects of such notice requirements reveals that they are effective in reducing the...