May 16, 2013 Explaining Canada’s Regional Migration Patterns Bank of Canada Review - Spring 2013 David Amirault, Daniel de Munnik, Sarah Miller Understanding the factors that determine the migration of labour between regions is crucial for assessing the economy’s response to macroeconomic shocks and identifying policies that will encourage an efficient reallocation of labour. By examining the determinants of migration within Canada from 1991 to 2006, this article provides evidence that regional differences in employment rates and household incomes tend to increase labour migration, and that provincial borders and language differences are barriers to migration. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Labour markets, Regional economic developments JEL Code(s): J, J6, J61, R, R2, R23
Asking About Wages: Results from the Bank of Canada’s Wage Setting Survey of Canadian Companies Staff Discussion Paper 2013-1 David Amirault, Paul Fenton, Thérèse Laflèche The Bank of Canada conducted a Wage Setting Survey with a sample of 200 private sector firms from mid-October 2007 to May 2008. Results indicate that wage adjustments for the Canadian non-union private workforce are overwhelmingly time dependent, with a fixed duration of one year, and are clustered in the first four months of the year, suggesting that wage stickiness may not be constant over the year. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Labour markets, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): E, E2, E24, J, J3, J33, M, M5, M52
What Drags and Drives Mobility: Explaining Canada’s Aggregate Migration Patterns Staff Working Paper 2012-28 David Amirault, Daniel de Munnik, Sarah Miller Using census data at the economic region level from 1991 to 2006 and a gravity model framework, this paper examines the factors that influence migration within Canada. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Labour markets, Regional economic developments JEL Code(s): J, J6, J61, R, R2, R23
Financial Frictions, Financial Shocks and Labour Market Fluctuations in Canada Staff Discussion Paper 2011-10 Yahong Zhang What are the effects of financial market imperfections on unemployment and vacancies in Canada? The author estimates the model of Zhang (2011) – a standard monetary dynamic stochastic general-equilibrium model augmented with explicit financial and labour market frictions – with Canadian data for the period 1984Q2–2010Q4, and uses it to examine the importance of financial shocks on labour market fluctuations in Canada. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Economic models, Financial markets, Labour markets JEL Code(s): E, E3, E32, E4, E44, J, J6
Fixed-Term and Permanent Employment Contracts: Theory and Evidence Staff Working Paper 2011-21 Shutao Cao, Enchuan Shao, Pedro Silos This paper constructs a theory of the coexistence of fixed-term and permanent employment contracts in an environment with ex-ante identical workers and employers. Workers under fixed-term contracts can be dismissed at no cost while permanent employees enjoy labor protection. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Labour markets, Potential output, Productivity JEL Code(s): H, H2, H29, J, J2, J23, J3, J38
Financial Factors and Labour Market Fluctuations Staff Working Paper 2011-12 Yahong Zhang What are the effects of financial market imperfections on unemployment and vacancies? Since standard DSGE models do not typically model unemployment, they abstract from this issue. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Economic models, Financial markets, Labour markets JEL Code(s): E, E3, E32, E4, E44, J, J6
Trends in U.S. Hours and the Labor Wedge Staff Working Paper 2010-28 Simona Cociuba, Alexander Ueberfeldt From 1980 until 2007, U.S. average hours worked increased by thirteen percent, due to a large increase in female hours. At the same time, the U.S. labor wedge, measured as the discrepancy between a representative household's marginal rate of substitution between consumption and leisure and the marginal product of labor, declined substantially. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Economic models, Labour markets, Potential output JEL Code(s): E, E2, E24, H, H2, H20, H3, H31, J, J2, J22
Stability versus Flexibility: The Role of Temporary Employment in Labour Adjustment Staff Working Paper 2010-27 Shutao Cao, Danny Leung In Canada, temporary workers account for 14 per cent of jobs in the non-farm business sector, are present in a range of industries, and account for 40 per cent of the total job reallocation. Yet most models of job reallocation abstract from temporary workers. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Labour markets, Productivity JEL Code(s): D, D2, D24, J, J3, J32
A Model of Housing Stock for Canada Staff Working Paper 2010-19 David Dupuis, Yi Zheng Using an error-correction model (ECM) framework, the authors attempt to quantify the degree of disequilibrium in Canadian housing stock over the period 1961–2008 for the national aggregate and over 1981–2008 for the provinces. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Domestic demand and components JEL Code(s): E, E2, E21, J, J0, J00
Time Variation in Okun's Law: A Canada and U.S. Comparison Staff Working Paper 2010-7 Kimberly Beaton This article investigates the stability of Okun's law for Canada and the United States using a time varying parameter approach. Time variation is modeled as driftless random walks and is estimated using the median unbiased estimator approach developed by Stock and Watson (1998). Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Labour markets JEL Code(s): E, E2, E24, J, J0, J00