Income Disparities: The Case of Unskilled Workers in Canada (1996-2010)

Abstract

In this paper we analyse the gaps in economic welfare that exist between skilled and unskilled labor in Canada. Following the work of Chardon [1] [2] and Amossé and Chardon [3], we use competency levels as defined in the National Classification of Occupations to distinguish these two groups and then analyse the income disparities that exist between them. Our main findings show that unskilled workers are worse off economically than their skilled counterparts and that the Canadian workforce seems to be more bipolarized than the Canadian population as a whole. We also find strong intra-categorical inequalities within unskilled labor, workers from the sales and services occupational domain being at a disadvantage relative to their peers in other occupational groups. Finally, we show that state intervention, through taxation and social transfers, plays an important role in tightening the inter-categorical and intra-categorical income gaps.