Category Labour markets

Labour market flexibility and interprovincial migration

The most important development in the Canadian economy over the past 5 years has been the 40% appreciation of the CAD-USD exchange rate since January 2002, largely due to the increase in the price of oil and other commodities. The effects have been predictable: booms in the mining and oil sectors, and hard times for […]

When the minimum wage bites

The ‘old minimum wage research’ – summarised here – found that the effect of an increase in the minimum wage on employment was significant. The ‘new minimum wage research’ – à la Card and Krueger – found that the effect was not significant. When the idea of increasing the Quebec minimum wage to 10$/hr was […]

The NDP and the minimum wage

The Ontario NDP has introduced a private member’s bill to increase the Ontario minimum wage from $7.75/hr to $10.00/hr, and its cousins in Ottawa have proposed a $10/hr minimum wage for workers under federal jurisdiction. The question is: why? We know that the link between those who earn the minimum wage and those who are […]

Who gets paid minimum wage in Canada

2005 data (pdf): Percentage of employees who were paid minimum wage: 4.3 Percentage of minimum-wage workers who were    – working part-time: 59.2    – between 15 and 19 years old: 44.5    – students living at home: 33.2    – heads of a household with children under 18: 5.4 The Toronto Star, in its […]