Cohort patterns in Canadian earnings: assessing the role of skill premia in inequality trends

In this paper we document the pattern of change in age-earnings profiles ac ross cohorts and evaluate its implications. Using synthetic cohorts from th e Survey of Consumer Finances over the period 1971 to 1993, we show that th e age-earnings profiles of Canadian men have been deteriorating for more re cent cohorts in comparison with older cohorts. We find this pattern for bot h high school and university educated workers. In no case do we find eviden ce that the return to gaining experience has been increasing over time, nor do we find increased within-cohort dispersion of earnings. We view these f indings as conflicting with the hypothesis that increased skill premia larg ely explain the observed increase in dispersion of male weekly earnings. JE L Classification: J31, O33.