Canadians Increasingly Stuck In The Economic Conditions They Were Born In
Feb 16th 2021, 11:20 pm
#16
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Re: Canadians Increasingly Stuck In The Economic Conditions They Were Born In
Valid point. I only compare the US since that is where I and my family are from, granted one can still do okay there on dual income making $15 or $16 per hour, but having 330+ million people gives a country a larger variety of decent sized city's that have affordable costs, Canada being smaller lacks that variety, and in general has higher costs overall for general goods and services.
We are worse off than my parents and wife parents, and worse off compared to my grandparents and great grandparents, but might be better off than my wife grandparents since they were living in Austria during WW2 where my great grandparents were in the US, and my grand parents were not even 10 at the end of WW2.
I would have been happy just to have maintained the level of quality of life my parents had and I had living with them, or at least having some ability to enjoy life rather than exist to pay rent and basically nothing else...ha ha
We are worse off than my parents and wife parents, and worse off compared to my grandparents and great grandparents, but might be better off than my wife grandparents since they were living in Austria during WW2 where my great grandparents were in the US, and my grand parents were not even 10 at the end of WW2.
I would have been happy just to have maintained the level of quality of life my parents had and I had living with them, or at least having some ability to enjoy life rather than exist to pay rent and basically nothing else...ha ha
Comparisons are tough across generations, and for most people commenting here, across countries.
When I was a kid my parents bought their first house for under £30k but as it was the 1980s they got to deal with comical interest rates that, if around today, would probably bankrupt half of homeowners. My mother was the first person in our family to go to university for example. I was the 2nd...and I think it's stopped at me thus far unless I'm forgetting someone lol.
By the time they were my age they had both progressed from retail and menial sorts of jobs to being police officers. Now that was well paid compared to most people but I don't think there was a massive queue to become police officers in Northern Ireland in the 1980s...just saying. It had its downsides but needs must I suppose. They did well enough out of it fortunately. Retired in their 50s, own a very nice house, large enough pensions that they'll not worry for money ever again etc.
Brother still lives in N.Ireland. Bought a house on his own with a civil servants salary. Sort of thing that isn't possible in most of Canada I'd guess.
No complaints from me overall. Not buying a house in Ontario any time soon but household income is over $100k. We pay our bills easily, invest thousands of dollars a month, drive nice cars, eat in nice restaurants, live in a nice place even if it's renting. Have workplace pensions, private healthcare. Doing pretty well overall I'd say.
I'd hope by the time I'm in my 50s I'll be as well off as my parents but I can certainly envisage being better off because they had kids and a government pension and that was enough for them. I won't have kids (no interest in the slightest) so I don't have that massive expense. And while we're not sitting with a defined benefit pension times two, we're investing money that they never did because they didn't see the need. No reason that investing plus contribution based pension (with workplace matches) won't end up ballooning over the next 20 years to put me well ahead of my parents.
There's no question my parents ended up far better off than my grandparents generation after the war when you had to go for a shit in the outhouse etc
When I was a kid my parents bought their first house for under £30k but as it was the 1980s they got to deal with comical interest rates that, if around today, would probably bankrupt half of homeowners. My mother was the first person in our family to go to university for example. I was the 2nd...and I think it's stopped at me thus far unless I'm forgetting someone lol.
By the time they were my age they had both progressed from retail and menial sorts of jobs to being police officers. Now that was well paid compared to most people but I don't think there was a massive queue to become police officers in Northern Ireland in the 1980s...just saying. It had its downsides but needs must I suppose. They did well enough out of it fortunately. Retired in their 50s, own a very nice house, large enough pensions that they'll not worry for money ever again etc.
Brother still lives in N.Ireland. Bought a house on his own with a civil servants salary. Sort of thing that isn't possible in most of Canada I'd guess.
No complaints from me overall. Not buying a house in Ontario any time soon but household income is over $100k. We pay our bills easily, invest thousands of dollars a month, drive nice cars, eat in nice restaurants, live in a nice place even if it's renting. Have workplace pensions, private healthcare. Doing pretty well overall I'd say.
I'd hope by the time I'm in my 50s I'll be as well off as my parents but I can certainly envisage being better off because they had kids and a government pension and that was enough for them. I won't have kids (no interest in the slightest) so I don't have that massive expense. And while we're not sitting with a defined benefit pension times two, we're investing money that they never did because they didn't see the need. No reason that investing plus contribution based pension (with workplace matches) won't end up ballooning over the next 20 years to put me well ahead of my parents.
There's no question my parents ended up far better off than my grandparents generation after the war when you had to go for a shit in the outhouse etc
Last edited by scrubbedexpat091; Feb 16th 2021 at 11:23 pm.
Mar 2nd 2021, 11:46 pm
#17
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Re: Canadians Increasingly Stuck In The Economic Conditions They Were Born In
Economy shrank 5.4% in 2020
“It’s official. The COVID-19 pandemic caused the Canadian economy to suffer its steepest contraction since the Great Depression,” said TD senior economist Sri Thanabalasingam.
https://financialpost.com/news/econo...r-cent-in-2020
“It’s official. The COVID-19 pandemic caused the Canadian economy to suffer its steepest contraction since the Great Depression,” said TD senior economist Sri Thanabalasingam.
https://financialpost.com/news/econo...r-cent-in-2020
Mar 3rd 2021, 12:16 am
#18
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Re: Canadians Increasingly Stuck In The Economic Conditions They Were Born In
Economy shrank 5.4% in 2020
“It’s official. The COVID-19 pandemic caused the Canadian economy to suffer its steepest contraction since the Great Depression,” said TD senior economist Sri Thanabalasingam.
https://financialpost.com/news/econo...r-cent-in-2020
“It’s official. The COVID-19 pandemic caused the Canadian economy to suffer its steepest contraction since the Great Depression,” said TD senior economist Sri Thanabalasingam.
https://financialpost.com/news/econo...r-cent-in-2020
Mar 3rd 2021, 2:20 pm
#19
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Re: Canadians Increasingly Stuck In The Economic Conditions They Were Born In
Despite economic crash, savings surge as consumer confidence hits 3-year high
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/can...ound-1.5933651
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/can...ound-1.5933651
Mar 3rd 2021, 2:23 pm
#20
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Re: Canadians Increasingly Stuck In The Economic Conditions They Were Born In
Despite economic crash, savings surge as consumer confidence hits 3-year high
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/can...ound-1.5933651
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/can...ound-1.5933651
Several first world companies say there will be an economic rebound. I do hope so...although one has to be realistic, I prefer to be optimistic.
Mar 3rd 2021, 3:52 pm
#21
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Re: Canadians Increasingly Stuck In The Economic Conditions They Were Born In
Despite economic crash, savings surge as consumer confidence hits 3-year high
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/can...ound-1.5933651
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/can...ound-1.5933651
Its 2 worlds right now in Canada, the pandemic has not treated all economic classes equally, and the lower socioeconomic groups have taken the biggest hit economically and job loss wise.
Mar 3rd 2021, 6:28 pm
#22
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Re: Canadians Increasingly Stuck In The Economic Conditions They Were Born In
It shows that high levels of savings and government income support have bolstered the economic well-being of households — notably among the youngest groups and those with lower incomes.
Mar 4th 2021, 8:40 am
#23
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Re: Canadians Increasingly Stuck In The Economic Conditions They Were Born In
We are all in the same storm but some people have a very nice boat, some people only have a canoe, and some people are just clinging on to a tree. Remember that the next time the rich people ask you to vote for them at an election.
Mar 4th 2021, 1:11 pm
#24
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Re: Canadians Increasingly Stuck In The Economic Conditions They Were Born In
Exactly. Forget the notion that "we're all in the same boat." We are not.
We are all in the same storm but some people have a very nice boat, some people only have a canoe, and some people are just clinging on to a tree. Remember that the next time the rich people ask you to vote for them at an election.
We are all in the same storm but some people have a very nice boat, some people only have a canoe, and some people are just clinging on to a tree. Remember that the next time the rich people ask you to vote for them at an election.
Mar 4th 2021, 3:24 pm
#25
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Re: Canadians Increasingly Stuck In The Economic Conditions They Were Born In
Exactly. Forget the notion that "we're all in the same boat." We are not.
We are all in the same storm but some people have a very nice boat, some people only have a canoe, and some people are just clinging on to a tree. Remember that the next time the rich people ask you to vote for them at an election.
We are all in the same storm but some people have a very nice boat, some people only have a canoe, and some people are just clinging on to a tree. Remember that the next time the rich people ask you to vote for them at an election.
Some are up s*** creek without a paddle.. or floundering in the storm... while others ride high and dry!
Last edited by Siouxie; Mar 4th 2021 at 3:54 pm.
Mar 4th 2021, 3:46 pm
#26
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Re: Canadians Increasingly Stuck In The Economic Conditions They Were Born In
Mar 4th 2021, 4:46 pm
#27
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Re: Canadians Increasingly Stuck In The Economic Conditions They Were Born In
Exactly. Forget the notion that "we're all in the same boat." We are not.
We are all in the same storm but some people have a very nice boat, some people only have a canoe, and some people are just clinging on to a tree. Remember that the next time the rich people ask you to vote for them at an election.
We are all in the same storm but some people have a very nice boat, some people only have a canoe, and some people are just clinging on to a tree. Remember that the next time the rich people ask you to vote for them at an election.
True many have.
I would say we are off the boat and in the water, but luckily still above water barely.
I had an appointment with BC Works yesterday and the lady I spoke with said in the 15 years she has been working helping people get jobs, she has never had so many active clients at one time looking for jobs.
People like me and my wife don't count in the unemployment stats as the stat collecting people don't know we exist and I imagine we are not alone, probably a lot of us hidden unemployed out there.
Last edited by scrubbedexpat091; Mar 4th 2021 at 5:38 pm.
Mar 5th 2021, 6:39 pm
#28
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Re: Canadians Increasingly Stuck In The Economic Conditions They Were Born In
At the end of January Canada had 858,000 fewer jobs compared to pre-pandemic.
It's been about 18 months since I last worked, I was already unemployed when the pandemic started, but I had a job offer end of last February but eh pandemic changed the trajectory of things obviously and has led to a far longer time of unemployment than I anticipated, and longest I have spent unemployed, I am almost to a point where I don't even feel its worth the time and energy trying due to lack of any results from the effort put in.
It's been about 18 months since I last worked, I was already unemployed when the pandemic started, but I had a job offer end of last February but eh pandemic changed the trajectory of things obviously and has led to a far longer time of unemployment than I anticipated, and longest I have spent unemployed, I am almost to a point where I don't even feel its worth the time and energy trying due to lack of any results from the effort put in.
Last edited by scrubbedexpat091; Mar 5th 2021 at 6:43 pm.
Mar 6th 2021, 8:31 pm
#29
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Re: Canadians Increasingly Stuck In The Economic Conditions They Were Born In
This is US example but I still found it interesting.
This person posted their fathers 1982 pay stub from a meat packing plant. $8 in 1982 is about $21.69 today considering inflation.
Looking at indeed, meat packing jobs pay varies a bit depending on state/city, highest I found was $17 and lowest was $9 per hour.
I obviously didn't check every possible listing for jobs, I was just trying to get an idea of what pay is like in general in that kind of work.
This person posted their fathers 1982 pay stub from a meat packing plant. $8 in 1982 is about $21.69 today considering inflation.
Looking at indeed, meat packing jobs pay varies a bit depending on state/city, highest I found was $17 and lowest was $9 per hour.
I obviously didn't check every possible listing for jobs, I was just trying to get an idea of what pay is like in general in that kind of work.
