Brahim Boudarbat

The Evolution of the Returns to Human Capital in Canada, 1980–2005

Dans cet article, nous étudions l’évolution du rendement du capital humain au Canada de 1980 à 2005. La principale conclusion à laquelle nous arrivons – et qui s’oppose à celles d’études antérieures – est que les avantages associés à un niveau d’études plus élevé ont considérablement augmenté dans le temps chez les hommes; cette augmentation a été enregistrée en très grande partie d’abord au début des années 1980, puis après 1995. On observe le même phénomène chez les femmes, quoique de façon moins marquée. Par ailleurs, nous relevons une autre tendance non moins importante : après s’être accru pendant de nombreuses années, l’écart de salaires entre les travailleurs plus jeunes et les travailleurs plus âgés s’est stabilisé après 1995. Enfin, le fait d’avoir pris en considération « l’expérience de travail » dans nos analyses, et l’utilisation des données des recensements canadiens semblent expliquer les différences importantes entre nos résultats et ceux des études antérieures.

Choice of fields of study of university Canadian graduates: the role of gender and their parents' education

This paper examines the determinants of the choice of field of study by university students using data from the Canadian National Graduate Survey. The sample of 18,708 graduates holding a Bachelor degree is interesting in itself, knowing that these students completed their study and thus represent a pool of high‐quality individuals. What impact do expected post‐graduation lifetime earnings have in choosing their field of study respectively to their non‐pecuniary preferences? Are these individuals less or more influenced by monetary incentives on their decision than was found in previous literature with samples of university students not all completing their studies successfully? Unlike existing studies, we account for the probability that students will be able to find employment related to their field of study when evaluating lifetime earnings after graduation. The parameters that drive students’ choices of fields of study are estimated using a mixed multinomial logit model applied to seven broadly defined fields. Results indicate that the weight put by a student on initial earnings and earnings’ rate of growth earnings depends upon the education level of the parent of the same gender. Surprisingly, lifetime earnings have no statistically significant impact when the parent of the same gender as the student has a university education. Results show that men are, in general, more sensitive than women to initial income variations, whilst women are more sensitive than men to the earnings’ rate of growth variations. Marital status, enrolment status and the vocation identified with each field of study are influential factors in students’ choices. Finally, substantial increases in lifetime earnings would be necessary to draw students into fields of study they are not inclined to choose initially.

The Determinants of Education-Job Match Among Canadian University Graduates

This study uses data from the Follow-up of Graduates Survey – Class of 2000, to look at the determinants of education-job match among Canadian university graduates. From a public policy perspective, the question of education-job match is relevant given the substantial investment society puts into its postsecondary institutions, and the role devoted to human capital in economic development. Our results indicate that one graduate out of three (35.1%) is in a job that is not closely related to his or her education. The most important result is that demographic and socioeconomic characteristics (gender and family background) do not significantly affect the match. On the other hand, education characteristics strongly influence match, with field specific programs (such as “Health sciences” and “Education”) having the highest likelihood of obtaining an education-job match. In addition, the level of education (i.e. graduates with a postgraduate degree vs. a bachelor degree), as well as good grades, strongly affect the match. Employment characteristics also affect the match, but to a mixed extent, with certain characteristics, such as industry, as well as working full-time (vs. part time) affecting the match to a strong extent, while others, such as the permanence of employment, as well as the method used to obtain employment, not having a significant effect on match.

The Gender Wage Gap Among Recent Post‐Secondary Graduates in Canada: A Distributional Approach

Using the National Graduates Survey, we examine the trends in the gender wage gap among recent postsecondary graduates in Canada between 1988 and 2007. Female graduates earn on average 614% less than males during the period two to five years after graduation. Decompositions show that observable personal characteristics and job attributes can explain only a small portion of the wage gap. We also find that men earn more than women at every point of the distribution. Interestingly, the wage difference shrank in the lower half of the distribution in recent years, while it increased in the upper half.

Why Are the Relative Wages of Immigrants Declining? A Distributional Approach

The authors show that the decline in the relative wages of immigrants in Canada is far from homogeneous across the wage distribution. The well-documented decline in the mean wage gap between immigrants and Canadian-born workers hides a much larger decline at the low end of the wage distribution, while the gap hardly changed at the top end of the distribution. Using standard OLS regressions and unconditional quantile regressions, the authors show that both the changes in the mean wage gap and in the gap at different quantiles are well explained by standard factors such as experience, education, and country of origin of immigrants. Interestingly, an important source of change in the wages of immigrants relative to the Canadian born is the aging of the baby boom generation, which has resulted in a relative increase in the labor market experience, and thus in the wages, of Canadian-born workers relative to immigrants.

Education–job match among recent Canadian university graduates

This study uses data from the 2005 Follow-up of Canadian Graduates – Class of 2000 – to look at the determinants of education–job match among university graduates. The question of education–job match is relevant given the substantial investment society puts into its postsecondary institutions and the role devoted to human capital in economic development. We find that 35.1% of graduates are in a job that is not closely related to their education 5 years after graduation. The education–job match strongly depends upon education characteristics, with fields that focus on providing specific skills for the job market (such as ‘Health sciences’ and ‘Education’) being associated with the highest likelihood of obtaining an education–job match. In addition, the level of education, good grades and time devoted to studying strongly affect the match. Employment characteristics also affect the match, but to a mixed extent. One of our main findings is that predetermined characteristics (age, gender and family background) do not significantly affect the match. However, immigrants are significantly disadvantaged even if they hold Canadian degrees.

La situation des diplômes de la formation professionnelle sur le marché du travail au Maroc: Une analyse sexo-spécifique à l'aide des modèles de durée

ABSTRACT Graduates of Moroccos vocational training system remain in a very precarious position on the labour market, despite improvements to the system over the past 20 years. Data from a 2000 study of the career paths of graduates are analyzed to determine the factors favouring or hindering employment. The analysis is based on duration modelling applied to the length of unemployment before the first employement. Results confirm the disorganized state of the labour market in Morocco. Training geared to informal economies offers a greater potential for employment. Soliciting help from parents and friends increases access to employment, particularly for girls, as do using training centres or consulting employment ads in newspapers, although comparatively less so than personal connections. The fathers profession is instrumental. Children of managers and skilled trades are more likely to find employment. Finally, internships are shown to be more helpful for girls than boys.

Attrition and the estimation of employment and wage equations: the Canadian survey of labour and income dynamics

This article provides an analysis of the effects of attrition on employment and wages using the Canadian survey of labour and income dynamics. We consider a structural model composed of three freely correlated equations for nonattrition, employment and wages. The model is estimated using microdata from 22 990 individuals who provided sufficient information in the first year of the 1996–2001 panel. The main findings of this article are that attrition is not random. Attritors likely are less attached to employment and come from low-income population. The correlation between nonattrition and employment is positive and statistically significant, though small. Also, wage estimates are biased upwards. Observed wages are on average higher than wages that would be observed if all the individuals initially selected in the panel remained in the sample.