Getting a new job in 1989-90 in Canada

by René Morissette
Business and Labour Market Analysis Division
Analytical Studies Branch research paper series, No. 057

This paper presents recent evidence on hirings in Canada. The data is taken from the Labour Market Activity Survey of 1988-90. The results of the paper strikingly confirm the importance of education in individuals' success on the labour market.

Of all individuals already on the labour market or returning to the labour market and who started new full-time jobs in 1989-90, those with high levels of education had less difficulty finding jobs than low-educated workers. The jobs they found generally paid higher wages and had better pension plan coverage than those found by low-educated workers.

Low-educated workers were less likely to be employed for the whole period. When they made school-to-work transitions, they received lower wages in their first full-time job. Of all men who started new full-time jobs, those aged 55 to 64 seem to have experienced greater difficulty finding a job than those aged 35 to 44. Men aged 45 to 54 may not be immune from adjustment problems either. While the full-time jobs they hold usually are covered by pension plans to the same extent than jobs held by men aged 35 to 44, the full-time jobs they started in 1989-90 had lower pension plan coverage than those started by men aged 35 to 44. Disabled people limited at work appear to experience substantial problems on the labour market.

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