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Have Middle-class Earnings Risen In Canada? A Statistical Inference Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Charles M. Beach

    (Queen's University)

Abstract

This paper extends the statistical inference approach developed in Beach (2016) to look at income changes over different regions of an income distribution. Specifically, it looks at relative-mean earnings (RME) ratios and mean earnings levels for lower earners, middle-class (MC) workers and higher earners in Canada since 1970. Formulas are developed for (asymptotic) standard errors of these distributional statistics. The most consistent pattern since 1980 has been the marked decline in RME for MC workers, which has been highly statistically significant. Since 2005, however, real earnings levels have increased significantly and have been broadly shared across these earnings groups.

Suggested Citation

  • Charles M. Beach, 2017. "Have Middle-class Earnings Risen In Canada? A Statistical Inference Approach," Working Paper 1393, Economics Department, Queen's University.
    • Handle: RePEc:qed:wpaper:1393
    as

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    File URL: https://www.econ.queensu.ca/sites/econ.queensu.ca/files/qed_wp_1393.pdf
    File Function: First version 2017
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David A. Green & Benjamin M. Sand, 2015. "Has the Canadian labour market polarized?," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 48(2), pages 612-646, May.
    2. Charles M. Beach, 2016. "Changing income inequality: A distributional paradigm for Canada," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 49(4), pages 1229-1292, November.
    3. Nicole Fortin & David A. Green & Thomas Lemieux & Kevin Milligan & W. Craig Riddell, 2012. "Canadian Inequality: Recent Developments and Policy Options," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 38(2), pages 121-145, June.
    4. Charles M. Beach & Russell Davidson, 1983. "Distribution-Free Statistical Inference with Lorenz Curves and Income Shares," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 50(4), pages 723-735.
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    Cited by:

    1. Charles Beach, 2018. "Distributional Gains Of Near Higher Earners," Working Paper 1398, Economics Department, Queen's University.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Income equality; Canadian earnings; Statistical inference;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C12 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Hypothesis Testing: General
    • C46 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Specific Distributions
    • J20 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - General
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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