Relative Unemployment in Canada and the United States: An Assessment

Gary Burtless

Canadian Public Policy, 1998, vol. 24, issue s1, pages 254-263

Abstract: The paper reaches three conclusions about causes of the Canada-US unemployment gap. First, pure definitional differences are not very important. Second, changes in the unemployment insurance system in Canada during the 1970s and in the United States during the 1980s caused changes in jobless persons' responses to labour market surveys. Jobless Canadians became more likely to search for work during the 1970s and 1980s; jobless Americans became somewhat less likely to seek work in the 1980s and early 1990s. Third, increased relative Canadian unemployment in the 1990s is genuine, reflecting either a cyclical or structural slump in the Canadian job market.

Date: 1998
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