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Changes in Wage Distributions of Wage Earners in Canada: 2000-2005

Author

Listed:
  • Kao-Lee Liaw
  • Lei Xu

Abstract

This research attempts to figure out whether the wage distributions of Canadian wage earners have been moving towards or away from the flowing three ideals in the early part of the 21th century. First, there be a pattern of wage increase that is shared by a large majority of wage earners. Second, the historical gender inequality in wage be reduced. Third, there be a decrease in wage inequality for both males and females. We use the long-form records of the 2001 and 2006 population censuses to carry out our investigation. A nice feature of these records is that the values of income variables are not top-coded so that the true averages will not be understated and good insights into the situations of those with extremely high incomes can be obtained. We are disappointed by finding that the Canadian economy mostly drifted away from our three ideals, with the main exception being that for female wage earners the improvement in wage was fortunately shared by a large majority. We believe that an important reason for our disappointing finding is the progressive entrenchment of market fundamentalism in Canada. Incidentally, we have discovered that Statistics Canada did a good job in designing the 2006 census questionnaire so that the annoying choppiness that occurred to the 2000 wage distributions vanished in the 2005 wage distributions.

Suggested Citation

  • Kao-Lee Liaw & Lei Xu, 2013. "Changes in Wage Distributions of Wage Earners in Canada: 2000-2005," Quantitative Studies in Economics and Population Research Reports 451, McMaster University.
    • Handle: RePEc:mcm:qseprr:451
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    File URL: http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/qsep/p/qsep451.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Harvey, 2007. "Neoliberalism as Creative Destruction," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 610(1), pages 21-44, March.
    2. Michael R. Veall, 2012. "Top income shares in Canada: recent trends and policy implications," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 45(4), pages 1247-1272, November.
    3. Charles M. Beach & Ross Finnie & David Gray, 2010. "Long‐Run Inequality And Short‐Run Instability Of Men'S And Women'S Earnings In Canada," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 56(3), pages 572-596, September.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    male and female wage distributions; gender inequality; wage inequality; Canada; long-form census records; market fundamentalism;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household
    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies

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