Understanding the wage patterns of Canadian less skilled workers: The role of implicit contracts

Arbeitspapier

We examine the wage patterns of Canadian less skilled male workers over the last quarter century by organizing workers into job entry cohorts. We find entry wages for successive cohorts declined until 1997, and then began to recover. Wage profiles steepened for cohorts entering after 1997, but not for cohorts entering in the 1980s - a period when start wages were relatively high. We argue that these patterns are consistent with a model of implicit contracts with recontracting in which a worker's current wage is determined by the best labour market conditions experienced during the current job spell.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IFS Working Papers ; No. 09,22

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials ; Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
• Subject: Männliche Arbeitskräfte ; Ungelernte Arbeitskräfte ; Qualifikation ; Lohnniveau ; Lohnstruktur ; Kanada

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Green, David A. ; Townsend, James
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS)
• (where): London
• (when): 2009

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/47513
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET