Canadians are increasingly pessimistic
about their financial success: survey
Canadians are increasingly pessimistic about their financial success: survey
Salmaan Farooqui
Published 30 minutes ago
Share
Bookmark
Please log in to bookmark this story. Log In Create Free Account
The proportion of Canadians who feel they‘re financially worse off than their
parents’ generation is the highest it has ever been in an Environics Institute
survey that has been conducted since 1990.
The study measures people’s perceptions of social mobility by asking two
questions: are you better off than your parents were at your age, and will the
next generation be better off?
Pessimistic answers for both of those questions are trending upwards.
Thirty-nine per cent of people said they think they‘re worse off than their
parents, a record high for the survey. Meanwhile 40 per cent said they think
they‘re better off. It’s the first time less than half of Canadians said they
were doing better than their parents.
More than half of respondents between the age of 18 and 44 thought they were
worse off than their parents. More than half of people between the age of 18
and 59 said they think the next generation will be worse off.
Despite the pessimism, indicators such as the unemployment rate, inflation• Экономика » Макроэкономика » Макроэкономические индикаторы » Инфляция
• Экономика » Финансы » Инфляция and
GDP numbers are performing better than in previous times of economic
difficulty, such as the 2008 global financial crisis• Финансовый кризис.
Experts say there are a number of factors that have left people feeling
discouraged, including the cost of housing , global political uncertainty and
a sense of disappointment that recent times of economic hardship didn’t end
with the pandemic.
Andrew Parkin, executive director of Environics Institute, said he expected
results this grim when they last conducted the study in 2022, when people were
suffering from social isolation and housing prices were soaring.
Instead, 53 per cent of respondents felt they were better off than their
parents in 2022 – the highest proportion since the survey began in 1990.
But in the most recent survey, Mr. Parkin said people expected to come out of
the pandemic into better times, but are now dismayed after facing more
economic hardship.
“It’s that context of coming out of the pandemic and not going, ’Oh, good
that‘s over,’ and instead coming out and going, ‘Wait a minute, now there‘s
another crisis I wasn’t expecting.‘”
Housing shortages and the bleak outlook for both renting and buying a home
likely has a large impact on people’s outlooks.
Laura Doering, an associate professor at the University of Toronto, said
buying a home is still seen as a measure of financial success in Canada, and
it is increasingly out of reach for many.
“It is harder to be able to afford a home, and a home is so much a part of our
story and about what makes adulthood,” said Prof. Doering.
“For us, it’s a key component of having arrived at successful adulthood, so if
that is out of reach it feels particularly demoralizing for young people.”
She also noted that many people feel the world is a much more uncertain place
than it was in years past. Climate change• Политика » Геополитика » Международные отношения » Направления международного сотрудничества » Изменение климата
• Метеорология » Климатология » Изменение климата is being felt through extreme events
such as wildfires and floods, and war in Europe and the Middle East give a
sense of less stability.
Mr. Parkin said the survey results are reason to look beyond traditional
economic indicators to understand how younger generations are struggling in
Canada today.
“People are telling us about a reality that those macro indicators might not
be picking up,” said Mr. Parkin. “I would say this is a signal of the level of
distress that’s going on.”
Are you a young Canadian with money on your mind? To set yourself up for
success and steer clear of costly mistakes, listen to our award-winning Stress
Test podcast .
@@@@