This paper proposes a new framework to empirically assess the effects of the minimum wage in a developing country. This approach allows us to jointly estimate the effects of the minimum wage on unemployment, average wages, sector mobility, wage inequality, the size of the informal sector and on...

While proponents argue that minimum wage laws are essential in improving social welfare and economic well-being, implementation of minimum wage laws can also be associated with increased unemployment and the movement of workers into the informal sector where worker protection and workplace...

Alors que les adeptes des lois sur le salaire minimum les considèrent comme essentielles pour améliorer le bien-être social et économique, la mise en application des lois sur le salaire minimum peut aussi entraîner une hausse du chômage et un déplacement des travailleurs dans le secteur...

Change is an enduring feature of the economy and the labour market, even in normal times. The importance of adjusting to change, and of policies that promote adjustment, has been a recurring theme throughout David Dodge’s distinguished career. This paper deals with “displaced...

Workers displaced from long-tenure jobs often have difficulty finding new employment and can take a substantial drop in earnings when they find reemployment. These losses are large and persistent, and can easily dwarf the transitory losses from the initial period of nonemployment. Policy...

This paper examines the role of EI in providing support to “displaced workers,†those who permanently lose their jobs because of changing circumstances. Adjusting to change benefits Canadians as a whole. However, some workers suffer much more from job loss than do others. Those who...

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...