For several decades there has been a flattening of distribution of wages depending on age in more developed economies. Recent cohorts have seen less wage growth as they get older compared to previous cohorts. The implications of this phenomenon are numerous: it affects, for example, the degree of measurable wage inequality from cross-sectional data as well as long-term intergenerational income inequalities.

The chair team, looking at inequality, will study:

  • The links between technological advances and human capital to explain the current and future transformations within the labour market as well as the age-wage profiles. The team will be particularly interested in the structural and cross-sectional decomposition of wage inequalities. It will also analyze wage inequalities and their interactions with demographic projections;
  • The issue related to the labour market participation rate, which since 2007 in Canada has dropped by 2% while the participation rate of individuals over 55 has increased since 1995. The team proposes to analyze the distinction between cyclical effect and demographic trend;
  • Older age entrepreneurship, growing among young retirees, asking in particular whether governments can further increase self-employment rates among older workers – and more generally, if and how the institutional and socio-demographic structure of one country influences trends in self-employed works in self-employment;
  • The integration into employment of people with disabilities, a major participation and retention issue in the labour market. It will pay particular attention to the problems of scarcity in the quantity and quality of labour which are likely to worsen in the context of an aging population;
  • The rate of return of education and continuing training, in a context where technological change, increased international competition and changes in the population’s consumption baskets require a workforce capable of adjusting quickly to the impacts experienced;
  • The role of public policies in relation to the scarcity of labour, such as the guaranteed minimum income, or the international strategies of attracting highly qualified labour in a context of technological change and aging population;
  • Forward-looking scenarios aimed at better responding to the challenges of an aging population, through the use of long-term simulation models, SIMUL and COMPAS.