Have the Labour Market Conditions of Low-Skilled Workers Worsened in Canada?
In many OECD countries in recent years, labour market conditions for workers with low levels of skills appear to have deteriorated. While there is a sizeable body of empirical research examining the evolution of skill differentials in Canada, it is difficult to draw broad conclusions about recent trends from this research. A number of issues arise in connection with changes in the relative labour market conditions of workers with different levels of skills. Among these are whether globalization and technical change have benefited high-skilled workers disproportionately and if so, what approach should be taken to deal with the problems of poor employment opportunities and low earnings for workers with low levels of skills. Another concern is that these problems may spread beyond a small group of the lowest-skilled, leading to deteriorating labour market conditions for a broader low-skilled segment of the adult population. In this paper, we first examine the evolution of the relative lab
