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Changes in wage inequality in Canada: An interprovincial perspective
Author(s) -
Fortin Nicole M.,
Lemieux Thomas
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
canadian journal of economics/revue canadienne d'économique
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.773
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 1540-5982
pISSN - 0008-4085
DOI - 10.1111/caje.12140
Subject(s) - wage dispersion , economics , inequality , distribution (mathematics) , wage , wage inequality , perspective (graphical) , labour economics , real wages , dispersion (optics) , wages and salaries , efficiency wage , demographic economics , mathematical analysis , physics , mathematics , artificial intelligence , computer science , optics
This paper uses the Canadian Labour Force Survey to understand why the level and dispersion of wages have evolved differently across provinces from 1997 to 2013. The faster increase in the level of wages and the decline in wage dispersion in Newfoundland, Saskatchewan and Alberta are the starkest interprovincial differences. We find that they are accounted for by the growth in the extractive resources sectors, which benefited less‐educated and younger workers the most. Increases in minimum wages since 2005 are found to be the main reason why wages at the very bottom grew more than those in the middle of the distribution.