Robert Swidinsky

Wage Determination by Gender and Visible Minority Status: Evidence from the 1989 LMAS

The 1989 Labour Market Activity Survey (LMAS) is used to examine the wage implications of membership in groups distinguished by gender and visible minority status. White men, minority men, white women and minority women earn an average hourly wage of

On the calculation of marginal effects in the bivariate probit model

14.73,

A Microeconometric Analysis of the Canadian Wage Determination Process

12.48,

Welfare Participation and Labour Market Behaviour in Canada

11.33 and

The Economic Returns to the Knowledge and Use of a Second Official Language: English in Quebec and French in the Rest-of-Canada

10.97, respectively. We examine whether these rates and their pair-wise differences can be explained by productivity-related characteristics, and conclude that less then 30 percent of the offered wage differentials between white males-minority females, white males-white females and white males-minority males can be attributed to productivity-related factors. We also conclude that virtually none of the differentials between minority males-white females and white females-minority females can be explained by productivity factors. Approximately 11 percent of the wage differential between minority males and minority females is due to differences in productivity characteristics.

Canadian Union-Nonunion Wage Differentials

We examine the effects of marginal changes in continuous variables on the joint, conditional and marginal probabilities involved in the bivariate probit model. The connection between effects in the univariate and bivariate probit models are also explored. We illustrate these effects using a bivariate model of welfare and labor force participation by lone mothers, using data from the 1989 Labour Market Activity Survey of Canada.

The Effect of settlement stage on negotiated wage settlements in Canada

The objective of this paper is to analyse the Canadian wage determination process using micro-data derived from individual union wage contracts, signed during the 1966-1975 time period. Conventional wage studies based on aggregate time series are subject to a number of important econometric criticisms arising from their failure to specify correctly the institutional features of the labour market (such as multi-year contracts, deferred increments and the variability of the bargaining calendar). Use of micro-data prior to aggregation not only avoids most of these institutional econometric problems, but also makes possible a precise investigation of several important theoretical and policy issues. In particular, it is possible to separate expected inflation from uncompensated past inflation and to investigate the impact of each type of inflation on the wage determination process. We also pay attention to the changing structure of the Canadian labour market and to the possible impact of the 1971 Unemployment Insurance Act (UIA) revision on Canadian wage inflation.

Trade Unions and the Rate of Change of Money Wages in Canada, 1953-1970.

This paper employs bivariate probit estimation procedures and non-independente selectivity adjustments to investigate the determinants of the joint welfare participation-labour supply decisions made by single male, single females, lone fathers and lone mothers, using data from the 1988-1989 LMAS.

A microeconomic analysis of wage determination in the Canadian public sector

La connaissance d’une deuxième langue officielle au Canada peut être associée à des revenus plus élevés à cause de la valeur que cela comporte sur le marché du travail, ou de la valeur que cela représente simplement en tant qu’habileté supplémentaire. Mais, jusqu’à maintenant, les données disponibles sur ce sujet n’avaient rapport qu’à la connaissance de cette langue, et non à son utilisation. C’est le recensement de 2001 qui, pour la première fois, a fourni des données sur l’utilisation de la langue maternelle et d’une langue seconde au travail, ce qui montre que c’est la connaissance et l’utilisation d’une langue seconde qui entraînent une augmentation des revenus attribuable à la maîtrise d’une deuxième langue officielle. Dans cette étude, nous observons que cet effet est important et statistiquement significatif au Québec, mais négligeable ailleurs au Canada.

The Impact of the Anti-Inflation Board on Negotiated Wage Settlements: A Reply

Using extensive Canadian longitudinal data from the years 1969–71, the authors estimate union-nonunion wage differentials of 12–14 percent for 1969 and 13–16 percent for 1970. These estimates are not adjusted for selectivity because three different tests to identify selectivity yield no evidence of selectivity bias. The authors argue that although testing for selectivity is often essential, selectivity adjustments have resulted in greatly inflated estimates of union-nonunion wage differentials in some studies and should therefore be used with caution.