Jobless Durations of Displaced Workers: A Comparison of Canada and the United States

David M. Gray and Gilles Grenier

Canadian Public Policy, 1998, vol. 24, issue s1, pages 152-169

Abstract: This paper deals with one fact of the unemployment rate gap between Canada and the United States that started in the early 1980s. We seek to analyse discrepancies in the search behaviour and environment of displaced workers which give rise to a higher observed average jobless duration for Canadian workers. A common hazard function is estimated from a data set which combines comparable information from the American and the Canadian Displaced Worker Surveys for 1986. A descriptive analysis of the characteristics' and the distribution of jobless spells of displaced workers in the two countries reveals some relevant differences across countries. The results from the regression model are roughly similar for the two countries, with the exception of significant differences in the impact of a few variables, such as the cause of displacement (plant closure versus production cutback); there is also a higher degree of negative duration dependence in the US. An empirical decomposition exercise suggests that the differences in the characteristics of displaced workers and their labour markets are relatively more important than differences in the estimated regression coefficients of the corresponding variables in generating a longer average duration in Canada.

Date: 1998
View list of references View citations in EconPapers

Downloads: (external link)
http://economics.ca/cgi/jab?journal=cpp&view=v24s1/CPPv24s1p152.pdf Full text (application/pdf)
No access restriction except for the four most recent issues.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cpp:issued:v:24:y:1998:i:s1:p:152-169

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.utpjournals.com/cpp/

Access Statistics for this article

Canadian Public Policy is edited by James B. Davies

More articles in Canadian Public Policy from University of Toronto Press
Address: University of Toronto Press Journals Division 5201 Dufferin Street Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3H 5T8
Series data maintained by Prof. Werner Antweiler ().