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Labour market dynamics in Canada, 1891-1911: A first look from new census samples

Author

Listed:
  • Kris Inwood

    (Department of Economics University of Guelph)

  • Chris Minns

    (Department of Economic History London School of Economics)

  • Mary MacKinnon

    (Department of Economics McGill University)

Abstract

This paper uses newly available census evidence to portray changes in labour market outcomes in Canada between 1891 and 1911. Multiple census cross-sections allow for the documentation of how the location, occupation, and earnings of Canadian and foreign-born cohorts changed over time. The westward movement of young anglophones after 1901 contributed to the formation of a national labour market. Anglophone, francophone, and foreign-born cohorts all experienced significant occupational mobility between 1891 and 1911, but francophones and immigrants remained over-represented at the bottom of the occupational ladder. Greater occupational and geographical mobility supported higher rates of earnings growth among Anglophones.

Suggested Citation

  • Kris Inwood & Chris Minns & Mary MacKinnon, 2010. "Labour market dynamics in Canada, 1891-1911: A first look from new census samples," Working Papers 1014, University of Guelph, Department of Economics and Finance.
    • Handle: RePEc:gue:guelph:2010-14.
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    File URL: http://www.uoguelph.ca/economics/sites/uoguelph.ca.economics/files/2010-14.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Goldin, Claudia & Katz, Lawrence F, 1996. "Technology, Skill, and the Wage Structure: Insights from the Past," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(2), pages 252-257, May.
    2. Chris Minns & Mary MacKinnon, 2007. "The costs of doing hard time: a penitentiary‐based regional price index for Canada, 1883–1923," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 40(2), pages 528-560, May.
    3. Hatton, Timothy J., 1997. "The Immigrant Assimilation Puzzle in Late Nineteenth-Centuty America," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 57(1), pages 34-62, March.
    4. Green, Alan & Mackinnon, Mary & Minns, Chris, 2005. "Conspicuous by their Absence: French Canadians and the Settlement of the Canadian West," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 65(3), pages 822-849, September.
    5. M C. Urquhart, 1986. "New Estimates of Gross National Product, Canada, 1870-1926: Some Implications for Canadian Development," NBER Chapters, in: Long-Term Factors in American Economic Growth, pages 9-94, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. J. C. Herbert Emery & Clint Levitt, 2002. "Cost of living, real wages and real incomes in thirteen Canadian cities, 1900–1950," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 35(1), pages 115-137, February.
    7. Inwood, Kris & Stengos, Thanasis, 1991. "Discontinuities in Canadian economic growth, 1870-1985," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 274-286, July.
    8. Baker, Michael & Hamilton, Gillian, 2000. "Écarts salariaux entre francophones et anglophones à Montréal au 19e siècle," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 76(1), pages 75-111, mars.
    9. Minns, Chris, 2000. "Income, Cohort Effects, and Occupational Mobility: A New Look at Immigration to the United States at the Turn of the 20th Century," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 326-350, October.
    10. Green, Alan & MacKinnon, Mary, 2001. "The Slow Assimilation of British Immigrants in Canada: Evidence from Montreal and Toronto, 1901," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 315-338, July.
    11. J. C. Herbert Emery & Kris Inwood & Henry Thille, 2007. "Hecksher‐Ohlin In Canada: New Estimates Of Regional Wages And Land Prices," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 47(1), pages 22-48, March.
    12. Mary MacKinnon, 1996. "New Evidence on Canadian Wage Rates, 1900-1930," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 29(1), pages 114-131, February.
    13. Alan G. Green & Mary MacKinnon & Chris Minns, 2002. "Dominion or Republic? Migrants to North America from the United Kingdom, 1870–1910," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 55(4), pages 666-696, November.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Jason Dean & Maryam Dilmaghani, 2016. "Economic Integration of Pre-WWI Immigrants from the British Isles in the Canadian Labour Market," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 55-76, February.
    2. Escamilla Guerrero, David & Lepistö, Miko & Minns, Chris, 2022. "Explaining gender differences in migrant sorting: evidence from Canada-US migration," Economic History Working Papers 117260, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    3. Kris Inwood & Chris Minns & Fraser Summerfield, 2016. "Reverse assimilation? Immigrants in the Canadian labour market during the Great Depression," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 20(3), pages 299-321.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    labour market; census; Canada; ethnicity; anglophone; francophone; occupations; earnings regression; 1891; 1901; 1911;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • N31 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913

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