This paper presents a decomposition of the changes in the Canada-US unemployment rate gap using measures of the flow rates into unemployment (the inflow hazard) and out of unemployment (the outflow hazard). The estimates indicate that most of the changes in the unemployment rate gap between 1981...

This paper reviews the programs - both public and private - that comprise the safety net for disabled persons in Canada. The paper has several objectives. First, we describe the trends in program expenditures in Canada between 1970 and 1996. Second, we discuss the plausible explanations for...

This paper examines the prevalence of hard-to-diagnose conditions, such as musculoskeletal disorders, in the Canada/Quebec Pension Plan (C/QPP) disability program. Specifically, it uses aggregate data to study the effect of disability benefits and an increase in the rigour of the medical...

I estimate the spillover effects of the minimum wage on the wages of adults (aged 15 to 64) by gender using data from the Canadian Labour Force Survey from 1997 to 2010. I find that the effects of the minimum wage on the wage distribution in Canada do not reach as high up the distribution as in...

We use Canadian data from 1970 to 1994 to examine the substitution that can occur between social insurance programs that support disabled persons. We obtain our estimates using an instrumental variable estimator. We find that workers' compensation program policy variables have significant...

This paper examines the effect of the Canada/Quebec Pension Plan (C/QPP) disablity program on the labour force participation rates of older men and women. I use aggregate provincial data and exploit the time series and cross-sectional variation, which results from the different policies used by...

Data from the 2002 and 1994 General Social Survey are used to analyze the determinants of retiring due to mandatory retirement and the expected age of retirement in Canada. Changes between 1994 and 2002 are decomposed into two components, one attributable to shifts in the composition of...

The evolution of pay equity in Ontario is traced through its various stages, along with the rationale for each stage and the complexity that results from each advancement. The current practice of pay equity is then analyzed with respect to various design and implementation features as well as...