Language and Earnings in Quebec: Trends over Twenty Years, 1970-1990

Earnings differentials among Quebec's linguistic groups (francophones, anglophones, and allophones) have been the subject of concern over the past three decades. Using data from the 1991 Census, this paper examines linguistic earnings disparities by gender in 1990, and compares the results to those obtained from the 1971 and 1981 Census data. The main findings are that, since the passage of Bill 101 in 1977, the earnings gap between (unilingual and bilingual) anglophones and bilingual francophones has indeed closed. However, the earnings situation of allophones (regardless of official languages spoken) has worsened as did that of unilingual francophones.