The Distributional Impacts of Active Labor Market Programs for Indigenous Populations
We evaluate the distributional impacts of active labor market programming for indigenous peoples in Canada. Using administrative data and an empirical strategy that compares participants in high-intensity programs--skills interventions, job-creation partnerships, or wage subsidies--to those in low-intensity programs, such as employment assistance or job counseling, reveals large returns to high-intensity programming for above-median earnings. Returns are largest for women at the mean, suggesting that high-intensity programming may reduce gender gaps in earnings among participants, who represent 10 percent of all indigenous people in Canada. Larger returns at the top of the distribution indicate that overall inequality among participants could increase.