Nonstandard Employment and Indigenous Earnings Inequality in Canada

The study investigates the extent to which the type of employment, specifically nonstandard work, may contribute to a better understanding of Indigenous earnings disparities. We find that Indigenous workers are overrepresented in nonstandard jobs and that such forms of work are associated with sizable earnings penalties. Although Indigenous earnings disparities are smaller in nonstandard work than in standard employment, the relatively low earnings of many nonstandard jobs are an important factor contributing to the overall economic inequalities experienced by many Indigenous Canadians. Policy responses aimed at improved human capital accumulation are likely to have limited efficacy unless additional barriers that prevent many Indigenous workers from accessing better quality employment and internal labor markets are identified and removed.

Manufacturing Labor Discipline

Josiah Wedgwood, the Montgolfier family, and Samuel Bentham were leading producers during the early industrial era. A pottery manufacturer, a family of papermakers, and the Inspector-General of Britain's Naval Works, they all occupied the highest perch in their fields. This article considers the efforts by these eminent figures to control the exercise and reproduction of skill in their shops. It examines their attempts to build internal labor markets and blend carefully trained, home-grown hands with novel systems of work discipline and fresh technologies. In doing so, this article assesses the success and limits of the entrepreneurial trio's designs in the coming of mechanized production.

Manufacturing Labor Discipline

Josiah Wedgwood, the Montgolfier family, and Samuel Bentham were leading producers during the early industrial era. A pottery manufacturer, a family of papermakers, and the Inspector-General of Britain’s Naval Works, they all occupied the highest perch in their fields. This article considers the efforts by these eminent figures to control the exercise and reproduction of skill in their shops. It examines their attempts to build internal labor markets and blend carefully trained, home-grown hands with novel systems of work discipline and fresh technologies. In doing so, this article assesses the success and limits of the entrepreneurial trio’s designs in the coming of mechanized production.

The Internal Labor Markets of Business Groups

This paper provides micro evidence of labor mobility inside business groups. We show that worker flows between firms in the same group are stronger than with unaffiliated firms. Moreover, the reallocation of top workers between group firms is more sensitive to international shocks. Top workers that move within the group in response to shocks reach higher positions and earn higher wages. We find suggestive evidence that productivity increases when firms receive same-group top workers. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that, in response to changing opportunities, joint ownership eases the redeployment of workers endowed with general management skills.