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 and GDP numbers are performing better than in previous times of economic difficulty, such as the 2008 global financial crisis.
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 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.”
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