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Language and the Earnings of Quebec Males in 1970 in specific Industries and Occupations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 August 2016

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Extract

This paper examines the role of differences in language skills in explaining differences in the level of labour earnings of males residing in Quebec. Canada in 1970. The paper puts forward an analytical framework that could be of use for others interested in explaining earnings in bi-, tri- or multi-lingual labour markets and shows that a knowledge of English was more highly rewarded than a knowledge of French, ceteris paribus, in Quebec in 1970.

The paper is divided in four parts. The first part outlines the theoretical framework and the empirical evidence that leads to the hypothesis that English is a more highly rewarded skill in the labour market of Quebec than French in 1970. The second part describes the database, discusses the choice of the functional form and presents the independent variables and their expected signs and, when appropriate, relative magnitudes. The third part examines the results for the whole of Quebec males in 1970 with particular attention paid to returns to language skills. The fourth part examines the results for specific industries and occupations.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de recherches économiques et sociales 1979 

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Footnotes

*

The author is at the Département des sciences économiques. Université de Montréal. He wishes to thank Daniel Weiserbs for encouraging him to submit this paper and two anonymous referees for very useful comments. The usual caveat applies.

References

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