Decomposing the Between-firm Employment Earnings Dispersion in the Canadian Business Sector: The Role of Firm Characteristics

This paper examines the role of firm characteristics in accounting for the between-firm average employment earnings dispersion in the Canadian business sector between 2002 and 2015. It uses two decomposition methods to analyze the level of and changes in the between-firm average employment earnings dispersion by firm characteristics, such as productivity, globalization status (importing, exporting, foreign ownership), technology intensity, firm size, firm age, industry and geographic region.