Papers by Richard Mueller
The migration of Mexicans to Canada is a new phenomenon, but it represents one of the most signif... more The migration of Mexicans to Canada is a new phenomenon, but it represents one of the most significant increases in the movement of people from Latin America. Since the mid-1990s, the number of Mexicans in Canada has been growing rapidly because of the return of the descendants of Canadian Mennonites who emigrated to Mexico and the provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which eases the entrance requirements for Mexican nationals. This article looks at the number of Mexicans in Canada, the timeframe of entry, and the number of temporary migrants admitted, and it suggests areas for future research.
Labor: Personnel Economics eJournal, 2019
We use a variety of methodologies to address how the public-private sector wage premium in Albert... more We use a variety of methodologies to address how the public-private sector wage premium in Alberta compares to those of other provinces, how these differ by type and level of public sector employment (e.g., federal, local, etc.), by the location in the overall wage distribution, and if the wage premium in this sector varies over the business cycle. We find a great deal of heterogeneity in the public sector wages premium by province and type of public sector employment. While estimates do differ, generally the premium in Alberta is among the lowest in Canada, tends to be higher for local and provincial employees, is higher at the lower tail of the wage distribution, and is inversely related to the Alberta business cycle. The estimates suggest significant savings to the Alberta government are possible, but that across-the-board cuts to Alberta employee compensation could have negative implications for the provision of public services.
Since the rapid decline in the price of oil in mid-2014, the Alberta economy has been experiencin... more Since the rapid decline in the price of oil in mid-2014, the Alberta economy has been experiencing one of the worst recessions in its history. Prior to this time, the province’s labor market had unemployment rates much lower than the Canadian average, workers flowed into the province from elsewhere in Canada and abroad, and acute labor shortages were prevalent in many occupations, industries and geographical areas. In short, labor mobility was an issue. This paper will discuss labor mobility at both the extensive and intensive margins, showing past trends and offering the most promising avenues to enhance this mobility when the province again returns to a state of prosperity.
Macroeconomics: Employment, 2019
A year before the United Conservation Party was elected in Alberta, the final budget from the NDP... more A year before the United Conservation Party was elected in Alberta, the final budget from the NDP government allocated some $21.6 billion to public sector salaries, wages and benefits, or 38.4 percent of the total expenditures of $56.2 billion (government of Alberta 2018). The same budget estimated a deficit of $8.8 billion.[1] With the general distaste in Alberta for budget deficits, coupled with current low energy revenues and the political improbability of introducing a sales tax as a steady and predictable revenue stream, the province is left with few options to reduce the budgetary shortfall and to keep the debt‐GDP ratio from increasing. If revenues cannot be enhanced, then expenditures must be controlled to reduce any budgetary shortfall. The fact that public‐sector earnings comprise such a large expenditure item means that this compensation is an obvious target for any expenditure‐reduction exercise. The fact that so many Albertans have recently lost lucrative employment in ...
Whether to attend a post-secondary education (PSE) institution, which one to attend, and how to c... more Whether to attend a post-secondary education (PSE) institution, which one to attend, and how to complete its degree or diploma requirements are extraordinary complex decisions faced my millions of young Canadians. Factors such as financial considerations, family background, information constraints and inherent ability all interact to determine whether or not young Canadians will attend – and ultimately graduate from – any one of the variety of PSE institutions across the country. Until recently, the study of these decisions in Canada has been hindered by a general lack of policy interest as well as the lack of appropriate data to adequately tackle these complex questions. This paper reviews the state of knowledge regarding access to and persistence in PSE in Canada prior to the writing of each of the papers in this volume. I put emphasis on the experiences of students from low-income families, a group which has historically not benefited from publicly financed PSE as much as those f...
Canadian Journal of Higher Education, 1969
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, have resulted in the increased scrutiny of both immi... more The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, have resulted in the increased scrutiny of both immigrants and non-immigrants entering the United States. The latter group includes students who enter the country on temporary visas to complete programs of higher education. Depending on the source, the number of foreign students in the United States has remained constant or fallen since 2001, and there has been a large decline among students from predominantly Muslim countries. Canada, by contrast, has relaxed its entry requirements for some foreign students and there has been a concerted effort among Canadian universities to increase foreign student enrolment. We find that the number of foreign students in Canada did increase following 9/11, especially those from predominantly Muslim countries. We discuss some of the implications of this increase in foreign students for Canadian universities and the Canadian labour market. Although these results support the hypothesis that changes in U.S...
Articles, 2017
This research uses the Youth in Transition Survey, Reading Cohort (“YITS-A”) to analyse access to... more This research uses the Youth in Transition Survey, Reading Cohort (“YITS-A”) to analyse access to post-secondary education (PSE) in Québec in comparison to other Canadian provinces and regions. We begin by presenting access rates by region and show that university participation rates in Québec are relatively low, while college rates are high in comparison to other provinces, although these differences are presumably due in part to the cégep system in Québec. We then undertake an econometric analysis which reveals that the effects of parental education on access to PSE are much stronger than the effects of family income, and are relatively uniform across the country. The substantially weaker family income effects (stronger for females than males) figure most importantly for the Atlantic Provinces, but much less elsewhere, including in Québec. We also find that the relationships between test scores from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which measures academic...
Journal of Further and Higher Education, 2016
This paper extends the current literature on access to post-secondary education by investigating ... more This paper extends the current literature on access to post-secondary education by investigating the role played by various family background characteristics related to the home environment and family habits and behaviours. Exploiting the extraordinary richness of the Youth in Transition Survey in this regard, we include whether the family ate dinner together, whether they discussed current affairs, and how often their children went to concerts-and if so, what kind of concerts. Many of these factors are found to have a significant relationship with attending post-secondary education, university in particular. Furthermore, these factors are in addition to-and at least to some degree independent of-more conventional influences such as parental education and family income. With appeal to the paradigm of "cultural capital"-which refers to the knowledge, experiences, and connections which help individuals succeed in life-these results indicate how advantages in accessing higher levels of education accrue to those from families that are rich in this kind of asset, while others are left behind.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2009
The gender pay gap is the topic of countless papers in the economics and social science literatur... more The gender pay gap is the topic of countless papers in the economics and social science literature. Its study can be traced back at least as far as the Old Testament (Gunderson, 2006), and debates on the issue in the media and elsewhere often generate much more heat than light. For policy purposes, it is converse that is needed most. This research will use the SLID from 1996 and 2005 to determine (1) how the average gender pay gap has evolved over this decade, (2) if there are differences in the gender pay gap at various points of the pay distribution, and (3) if there have been changes in gender pay at these points in the pay distribution over this period. We "link" this current research with the previous Canadian literature on the subject using the ubiquitous Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition, followed by an extension of this technique which explicitly addresses the explained and unexplained part of the pay gap at different points along the pay distribution. We find that the adjusted mean hourly wage gap for females has increased about one percentage point between 1996 and 2005 to about 89 per cent of the male hourly wage. The wage gap differs depending on which range of the wage distribution is being considered, and is sensitive to the choice of wage measure. Thanks to Marie Drolet, Ian Howe and Benoit Delage??, for providing useful comments on an earlier draft of this paper, and to HRSCD for providing financial support for this research.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2008
Whether to attend a post-secondary education (PSE) institution, which one to attend, and how to c... more Whether to attend a post-secondary education (PSE) institution, which one to attend, and how to complete its degree or diploma requirements are extraordinary complex decisions faced my millions of young Canadians. Factors such as financial considerations, family background, information constraints and inherent ability all interact to determine whether or not young Canadians will attend, and ultimately graduate from, any one of the variety of PSE institutions across the country. Until recently, the study of these decisions in Canada has been hindered by a general lack of policy interest as well as the lack of appropriate data to adequately tackle these complex questions. This paper attempts to review the state of knowledge regarding access to and persistence in PSE in Canada, with emphasis on the experiences of students from low-income families, a group which has historically not benefited from publicly financed PSE as much as those from middle-and high-income families, yet whose participation is seen as fundamental to Canada's competitiveness in the global knowledge-based economy. The focus is on the empirical work done is this area in Canada, as well as the United States, since there are many similarities in the educational systems between the two countries and studies in these areas have generally advanced further south of the border. The purpose is to assist researchers in accessing the state of knowledge and seeking new avenues of policy-relevant research for Canada. This report was prepared for the Canadian Millennium Scholarship Foundation through the MESA project managed by the Educational Policy Institute. Bryce van Sluys provided outstanding research assistance during the early stages of this project. Theresa Qui and Anne Motte provided many useful comments on an earlier draft of this paper.
Journal of International Migration and Integration, 2015
The children of Canadian immigrants from some source regions, Asia, Africa and China in particula... more The children of Canadian immigrants from some source regions, Asia, Africa and China in particular, attend university at extraordinarily high rates. Most others participate at lower rates, but still compare favourably with non-immigrant Canadians. In this paper the Youth in Transition Survey is used to analyse the role of various background factors on these outcomes, including parental education, family income, parental expectations, high school grades, and PISA test scores. To some degree, the children of immigrants go to university because they have higher levels of the background attributes associated with university attendance, parental education in particular. But by allowing these effects to vary by immigrant group, this research finds that the high immigrant university participation rates are largely driven by those possessing "unfavourable" characteristics (low levels of parental education in particular) attending university in spite of these apparent disadvantages.
Working Time in Comparative Perspective - Volume I: Patterns, Trends, and teh policy Implications of Earnings Inequality and Unemployment, 2001
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2011
The Analytical Studies Research Paper Series provides for the circulation, on a pre-publication b... more The Analytical Studies Research Paper Series provides for the circulation, on a pre-publication basis, of research conducted by Branch staff, visiting Fellows, and academic associates. The Research Paper Series is intended to stimulate discussion on a variety of topics, including labour, business firm dynamics, pensions, agriculture, mortality, language, immigration, statistical computing and simulation. Readers of the series are encouraged to contact the authors with comments, criticisms, and suggestions. A list of titles appears at the end of this document. Papers in the series are distributed to research institutes and specialty libraries. These papers can be downloaded from the Internet at www.statcan.gc.ca.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2007
Same-sex marriage in Canada has been federal law in Canada since July 2005. Although gays and les... more Same-sex marriage in Canada has been federal law in Canada since July 2005. Although gays and lesbians in Canada may have attained equality in marriage rights, this doesn't mean that they do not suffer discrimination in other aspects of their lives. In particular, in the labour market there still may be earnings differentials that may be due to discrimination or other factors which we are unable to observe. This paper utilizes the 2001General Social Survey to address the issue of differential earnings amongst members of same-sex couples compared to their counterparts in different-sex couples. We find that men in gay couples have an earnings penalty compared to heterosexual males in both common-law and married relationships, but no penalty exists for lesbians. These results are robust to changes in model specification. Finally, we reconcile our results with the sparse literature on gay and lesbian earnings differentials. The outstanding research assistance provided by Bryce van Sluys during the early stages of this project is gratefully acknowledged. Participants at British Association for Canadian Studies Conference, Durham, United Kingdom, April 11-13, 2007, and seminar participants and the University of Victoria provided useful comments on an earlier draft of this paper.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2012
La version française de cette publication est disponible (n o 11F0019M au catalogue, n o 345). No... more La version française de cette publication est disponible (n o 11F0019M au catalogue, n o 345). Note of appreciation Canada owes the success of its statistical system to a long-standing partnership between Statistics Canada, the citizens of Canada, and Canada's businesses, governments, and other institutions. Accurate and timely statistical information could not be produced without the continued cooperation and goodwill of these partners. Standards of service to the public Statistics Canada is committed to serving its clients in a prompt, reliable, and courteous manner. To this end, the Agency has developed standards of service which its employees observe in serving its clients. To obtain a copy of these service standards, please contact Statistics Canada, toll-free, at 1-800-263-1136. The service standards are also published on www.statcan.gc.ca. Under "Our agency": click on "About us > The agency" and select "Providing services to Canadians." Analytical Studies Research Paper Series The Analytical Studies Research Paper Series provides for the circulation, on a pre-publication basis, of research conducted by Branch staff, visiting fellows, and academic associates. The Analytical Studies Research Paper Series is intended to stimulate discussion on a variety of topics, including labour, business firm dynamics, pensions, agriculture, mortality, language, immigration, and statistical computing and simulation. Readers of the series are encouraged to contact the authors with comments and suggestions. A list of titles appears at the end of this document. Papers in the Analytical Studies Research Paper Series and other analytical products from the Social Analysis Division can be accessed at www.statcan.gc.ca/socialanalysis.
Review of Economics and Statistics, 2004
Utilizing a utility-maximizing, Roy-type, discrete choice model of worker location in Canadian pr... more Utilizing a utility-maximizing, Roy-type, discrete choice model of worker location in Canadian provinces and U.S. states that incorporates returns to skill, amenities, fixed costs, distance, language, and border effects, we find that individuals with higher skills migrate to areas with higher returns and that the 49th parallel attenuates migration. Simulations indicate that equalizing returns in the two countries has a modest effect on crosscountry migration; however, reductions in border effects tend to have large nonlinear effects on it. Our results confirm the qualitative results of previous research emphasizing the importance of returns to skill and border effects in migration decisions.
Economics of Education Review, 2005
We specify and estimate a demand equation for university education in Canada that is a function o... more We specify and estimate a demand equation for university education in Canada that is a function of tuition fees, real disposable income per capita and other variables that capture a student's opportunity cost. Our model has a number of novel features. We utilize application data, rather than enrollment data, due to the disequilibrium nature of Canada's university system. We also disaggregate demand into demographic components: male and female, secondary school applicants and ''other'' applicants, and type of university. A last novel feature is the use of the Maclean's university rankings as a determinant of demand. Our results suggest that the demand functions differ across the demographic characteristics in sensible ways. Broadly speaking, male applicants tend to be more price sensitive than females and tend to exhibit stronger income effects. Students applying from high school do not object to paying for a quality education, whereas ''other'' students tend to be more discriminating on price. In most cases, an improvement in a university's ranking exerts a positive influence on the number of applications received.
Canadian Public Policy, 2013
Dans cet article, nous présentons un modèle logit hiérarchique des migrations entre 59 régions du... more Dans cet article, nous présentons un modèle logit hiérarchique des migrations entre 59 régions du Canada et des États-Unis que nous avons conçu grâce à plus de 70 000 microdonnées portant sur les travailleurs de tous les déciles de la répartition des compétences que comportaient les recensements canadiens et américains de 2000/2001, puis nous faisons des estimations et des simulations. En combinant les données individuelles et et les données régionales, nous pouvons analyser les effets des différences de politiques fiscales des deux pays sur les migrations des travailleurs. Comme nous savons quels sont les travailleurs hautement qualifiés, nous pouvons simuler les effets que des changements en matière d’impôt (en présupposant des budgets équilibrés) auraient autant sur la tendance des individus à migrer que sur l’importance des courants migratoires. Ces simulations suggèrent qu’une augmentation du rendement des compétences après impôt au Canada ainsi que la réduction, au niveau moye...
Public/private sector wage differentials in Canada-evidence from the 1991 and 1982 surveys of consumer finance
Applied Economics, 1999
This paper extends the work of Gunderson and Shapiro and Stelcner that considered wage differenti... more This paper extends the work of Gunderson and Shapiro and Stelcner that considered wage differentials between public and private sector workers in Canada using the 1971 and 1981 Censuses, respectively. Here the Survey of Consumer Finances from 1991 and 1982 is used, which allows for better distinction between public and private sector workers. The estimated public sector premium is decomposed into an endowments component and a residual term. Estimates are corrected for sample selection bias with respect to the choice between full-time and part-time work in the two sectors. Tests for bias caused by self-selection into the private and public sectors revealed no such bias. As a benchmark, the overall wage premium calculated for 1981 compares very well with that of Shapiro and Stelcner. During the 1980s no significant increases in the public sector wage premium for males are found but the female premium increased significantly. This may be due to changes in pay equity legislation in the public sector relative to the private sector.
Transmigration from Canada to the United States: How Many ‘‘Foreigners’’are Leaving the Country?
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Papers by Richard Mueller