The Muslim effect: wage differentials in the Canadian labour market

The economic literature concerning the effect of religious affiliation on wages is sparse, and the literature that exist focus on Judeo-Christian faiths. This paper studies the effect of religious affiliation on wages in the Canadian labour market using census data. The study focuses on Muslims, the largest and fastest growing non-Christian religious minority in Canada. First, the general Canadian population is considered. Next, the immigrant effect is removed by considering only Canadian-born residents. A brief discussion of the immigrant population is then presented, followed by the study of a more homogenous group. The results indicate that a Muslim effect may exist that lowers individuals’ wages in the Canadian labour market. Further, the aggregate Muslim population reports lower wages as a result of the larger proportion of immigrants.