Angus Reid Institute reveals growing gap in Canada's finances
There’s good news and bad news about the state of Canadian household finances.
New research published today (March 21) by the Angus Reid Institute reveals that the share of poll participants who say they are ‘thriving’ has increased six percentage points over the past 18 months. But those who say they are ‘struggling’ has also increased in that time and many expect worse to come.
The ARI Economic Stress Index also found that those in the middle groups - those who say they are ‘comfortable’ or ‘uncomfortable’ – has become a smaller population as things either improve or decline for many of them.
Looking at those who are doing the best, the thrivers who make up 25% of respondents. None of these people expect their situation to be worse in 12 months and three in five expect further improvement. They rank their housing, food, and debt related challenges as minimal.
Those in the thriving group are most likely to have six-figure household incomes. There is a higher share of thrivers in Quebec, the only province with an above-average share of this cohort (33%) with Ontario, BC, and Manitoba just below average (25%) and Alberta only making the high teens (19%). Newfoundland and Labrador has the smallest share of thrivers (13%).
For those who are struggling, 29% of respondents, those with household incomes below $50K and those in Newfoundland and Labrador (37%) and New Brunswick (36%) are the largest groups.
Three in five of the strugglers say their finances are currently posing a challenge and are expecting things to be worse in 12 months. Those aged 35-54 are most likely to be struggling and those with children in their household are also more likely to be struggling than those without (34% vs 26%).
