Income Inequality Among Seniors in Canada: The Role of Women's Labour Market Experience

Tammy Schirle

CLSSRN working papers from Vancouver School of Economics

Abstract: The distribution of income among seniors in Canada has changed substantially over the past decade, reflecting an overall increase in income and an increase in income inequality. In this study I decompose the distribution of income among senior couples to determine the extent to which changes in the labour market activity and retirement experiences of women and men have contributed to this shift in the income distribution. I use data from the Canadian Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics, 1996 and 2006, and the methods of Firpo, Fortin and Lemieux (2007, 2009). Results suggest increases in women's access to pension income and employment have driven increases in income across the distribution with relatively small disequalizing eff ects. Increases in women's access to public pensions have had important equalizing e ffects, while most of the increase in senior income inequality can be attributed to increases in senior men's and women's education levels.

Keywords: Income Distribution; Elderly; Seniors; Women's Labour Supply; Pensions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I32 J14 J26 J32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 61 pages
Date: 2009-12-28, Revised 2009-12-28
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age and nep-lab
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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