The Earnings of Linguistic Minorities: French in Canada and Spanish in the United States / David E. Bloom, Gilles Grenier.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bloom, David E.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Grenier, Gilles.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w3660.

NBER working paper series no. w3660

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Discrimination in employment.

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

The Earnings of Linguistic Minorities

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 1991.

Cambridge, Mass. : National Bureau of Economic Research, 1991.

Summary:

This paper measures and compares the relative earnings of French and English speakers in Canada, and of Spanish and English speakers in the U.S., in the 1970s and 1980s. In Canada, the earnings gap between French and English speakers narrowed over time, especially in Quebec. This decline appears to have been caused primarily by a sharp increase in the relative demand for French-speaking workers within Quebec during the 1970s and 1980s. By 1986, nearly all of the remaining earnings gap between French and English speakers in Canada could be accounted for by differences in annual hours worked, marital status, age, education, and region. By contrast, the earnings gap between Spanish and English speakers in the United States remained high during the 1970s and 1980s and is not largely accounted for by differences in a standard set of control variables. If anything, there appears to have been a slight deterioration in the relative earnings of Spanish speakers in the U.S. during the 1970s. The most likely explanation for this change is an increase in the relative supply of Spanish speakers, due mainly to high levels of immigration.

Notes:

Print version record

March 1991.

Includes bibliographical references.