Includes bibliographical references and index.

Immigration policy, national origin, and immigrant skills: A comparison of Canada and the United States / George J. Borjas -- Skill differentials in Canada in an era of rising labor market inequality / Richard B. Freeman and Karen Needels -- Unions and wage inequality in Canada and the United States / Thomas Lemieux -- Unionization in Canada and the United States: A tale of two countries / W. Craig Riddell -- A comparative analysis of unemployement in Canada and the United States / David Card and W. Craig Riddell -- Responding to need: A comparison of social safety nets in Canada and the United States / Rebecca M. Blank and Maria J. Hanratty -- The distribution of family income: Measuring and explaining changes in the 1980s for Canada and the United States / McKinley L. Blackburn and David E. Bloom.

Description based on print version record.

This volume, the first in a new series by the National Bureau of Economic Research that compares labor markets in different countries, examines social and labor market policies in Canada and the United States during the 1980s. It shows that subtle differences in unemployment compensation, unionization, immigration policies, and income maintenance programs have significantly affected economic outcomes in the two countries. For example:. -Canada's social safety net, more generous than the American one, produced markedly lower poverty rates in the 1980s. -Canada saw a smaller increase in earnings.