- 21 Nov 2023 19:29
#15296027
The following article is about declining standards of living in Canada.
A decade ago I predicted that mass immigration to Canada was going to reduce wage levels for Canadian workers and eventually lead to many Canadians struggling with decreased standards of living. But of course some people are still going to argue about the causes of this. (The article itself doesn't touch on the issue of immigration or population growth)
She's a grad student juggling 3 jobs. Canada's cost of living may force her to move elsewhere
Shramana Sarkar, a 24-year-old aspiring geologist, moved to St. John's for her bachelor's degree in 2018. Back then, she only needed one part-time job to make rent for the month, at a going rate of $350 for a room in a house near MUN's campus.
But times have changed.
"Slowly, over the years, I've had to take on more jobs," she says. "I've seen the shift where from one job, now I have three."
Precarious workers often don't know how many hours they'll get in a week or whether they'll be employed next month.
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives suspects as many as one in five Canadian workers have precarious jobs. And even those working part time by choice have seen their wages stagnate relative to the cost of consumer goods, according to Statistics Canada.
"I think what's very sad is that the insecurity impacts most vulnerable groups a lot more than the average person. And that's why we're seeing the explosion in precarious work, the explosion in people having to pick up a second or a third job," said Walid Hejazi, an economist at the Rotman School of Management in Toronto.
Hejazi wrote an entire book about Canada's sliding prosperity compared with other developed countries. The nation's GDP per capita is on a steady decline relative to other economies, and that manifests in people scrabbling for extra work, second jobs and side gigs.
"Past generations of young Canadians entering the workforce could look forward to favourable tailwinds lifting real incomes over their working lives," wrote David Williams, a policy expert with the Business Council of British Columbia.
"That's no longer the case … young people entering the workforce today will not feel much of a tailwind at all. Rather, they face a long period of stagnating average real incomes that will last most of their working lives."
Today, Sarkar's rent has doubled. Groceries are 20 per cent more expensive than they were two years ago. But her wages haven't kept up. And none of her three jobs -- her teaching position, or either of her two barista gigs -- offers enough hours to cover all the basics.
Her schedule isn't overflowing by choice. If rent and inflation remain this high, she says, she'll have little choice but to study somewhere more affordable.
"The thought of having to do so many things just sort of paralyzes me," she says.
"I think many people are finding right now it's really hard to even just get out of bed each day and keep going," said Julia Smith, a labour historian at the University of Manitoba.
"Because you also have this feeling … of like, things aren't going to get better. There's a sense of despair, I think. It's one thing to say, 'I'm going to work really hard while I'm in grad school for a couple years, but then I'm going to get that job.' But when you have that sense of, 'I'm just going to work really hard forever and I might not even be able to own a home of my own, or ever have a pension,' that's pretty demoralizing."
She's a grad student juggling 3 jobs. Canada's cost of living may force her to move elsewhere (in Part 3 of The Grind), by Malone Mullin, CBC News - Newfoundland, Nov 20, 2023
related thread: Canada to have 50 million people, half of them immigrant families, by 2041
For some of you, maybe we need to have a talk about basic economics. When there is a shortage of something, prices usually go up. When there is an excess of something, it pushes prices down.
Adding a large number of people into the country is likely to have an effect on rents, housing prices, and wage levels (especially on the lower end).
"As Europe's largest economy teeters near recession, economists warn that high rents will feed inflation and reduce household consumption." "With fewer new housing stock coming on the market, rents are rising unabated, further eroding households' purchasing power."
Highrise housing projects in Germany going bankrupt
A decade ago I predicted that mass immigration to Canada was going to reduce wage levels for Canadian workers and eventually lead to many Canadians struggling with decreased standards of living. But of course some people are still going to argue about the causes of this. (The article itself doesn't touch on the issue of immigration or population growth)
She's a grad student juggling 3 jobs. Canada's cost of living may force her to move elsewhere
Shramana Sarkar, a 24-year-old aspiring geologist, moved to St. John's for her bachelor's degree in 2018. Back then, she only needed one part-time job to make rent for the month, at a going rate of $350 for a room in a house near MUN's campus.
But times have changed.
"Slowly, over the years, I've had to take on more jobs," she says. "I've seen the shift where from one job, now I have three."
Precarious workers often don't know how many hours they'll get in a week or whether they'll be employed next month.
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives suspects as many as one in five Canadian workers have precarious jobs. And even those working part time by choice have seen their wages stagnate relative to the cost of consumer goods, according to Statistics Canada.
"I think what's very sad is that the insecurity impacts most vulnerable groups a lot more than the average person. And that's why we're seeing the explosion in precarious work, the explosion in people having to pick up a second or a third job," said Walid Hejazi, an economist at the Rotman School of Management in Toronto.
Hejazi wrote an entire book about Canada's sliding prosperity compared with other developed countries. The nation's GDP per capita is on a steady decline relative to other economies, and that manifests in people scrabbling for extra work, second jobs and side gigs.
"Past generations of young Canadians entering the workforce could look forward to favourable tailwinds lifting real incomes over their working lives," wrote David Williams, a policy expert with the Business Council of British Columbia.
"That's no longer the case … young people entering the workforce today will not feel much of a tailwind at all. Rather, they face a long period of stagnating average real incomes that will last most of their working lives."
Today, Sarkar's rent has doubled. Groceries are 20 per cent more expensive than they were two years ago. But her wages haven't kept up. And none of her three jobs -- her teaching position, or either of her two barista gigs -- offers enough hours to cover all the basics.
Her schedule isn't overflowing by choice. If rent and inflation remain this high, she says, she'll have little choice but to study somewhere more affordable.
"The thought of having to do so many things just sort of paralyzes me," she says.
"I think many people are finding right now it's really hard to even just get out of bed each day and keep going," said Julia Smith, a labour historian at the University of Manitoba.
"Because you also have this feeling … of like, things aren't going to get better. There's a sense of despair, I think. It's one thing to say, 'I'm going to work really hard while I'm in grad school for a couple years, but then I'm going to get that job.' But when you have that sense of, 'I'm just going to work really hard forever and I might not even be able to own a home of my own, or ever have a pension,' that's pretty demoralizing."
She's a grad student juggling 3 jobs. Canada's cost of living may force her to move elsewhere (in Part 3 of The Grind), by Malone Mullin, CBC News - Newfoundland, Nov 20, 2023
related thread: Canada to have 50 million people, half of them immigrant families, by 2041
For some of you, maybe we need to have a talk about basic economics. When there is a shortage of something, prices usually go up. When there is an excess of something, it pushes prices down.
Adding a large number of people into the country is likely to have an effect on rents, housing prices, and wage levels (especially on the lower end).
"As Europe's largest economy teeters near recession, economists warn that high rents will feed inflation and reduce household consumption." "With fewer new housing stock coming on the market, rents are rising unabated, further eroding households' purchasing power."
Highrise housing projects in Germany going bankrupt
- By noemon
- By Bill_Nye
- By Rich