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June 27, 2018STATISTICS CANADA STUDY: EMPLOYMENT RATES AND WAGES OF CORE-AGED WORKERS IN CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES, 2000 TO 2017 Statistics Canada recently released a study on how employment rates and wages have evolved in Canada and the United States since the early 2000s. The study examines persons aged 25 to 54 for the period 2000 to 2017 using data from Canada’s Labour Force Survey (LFS) and the US Bureau of Labour Statistics Current Population Survey (CPS). Employment rate and wage changes between Canada and the United States are examined for men and women and by education level and sector.
Over the period 2000 to 2017, employment rates of individuals aged 25 to 54 evolved more favourably in Canada than the United States. During the period, the US employment rate declined 2 percentage points to 79% while in Canada the employment rate rose 2 percentage points to 82%. The diverging trend between Canada and the United was most pronounced among individuals without a bachelors degree.
Employment rates for men without a bachelor’s degree in the manufacturing sector saw similar declines in both Canada and the United States, but Canada had offsetting increases of employment rates in construction and the oil and gas sector that did not occur to the same magnitude in the United States. Among women without bachelor’s degrees, employment rates increased by 3.8 percentage points in Canada and declined 5.4 percentage points in the United States with better outcomes in Canada in most sectors, but the educational services, health care and social assistance sector accounted for 42 per cent of the difference.
The more favourable labour market trends in Canada also occurred in terms of wages with the real median hourly wage for employees aged 25 to 54 increasing 9 per cent in Canada and 3 per cent in the United States. The Canada-US difference in wage growth was pronounced in employees with a postsecondary education below a bachelor’s degree. Regional differences also occurred with real wage growth of 23% or more in oil-producing provinces but around 2% in Ontario for individuals without a bachelor's degree. While across US regions among persons without a bachelor's degree, men had real wage decreases of between 2 and 10% and women had real wage growth between -4 and 4%.
For the full report, Study: Employment rates and wages of core-aged workers in Canada and the United States, 2000 to 2017
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