Almost two-thirds of young adults in B.C. say the cost of living is their biggest concern — ahead of societal and environmental problems such as health care and climate change, according to a new poll.
The survey, released Wednesday by the BC Automobile Association and the Angus Reid Forum, found 60 per cent of those 18 to 34 are “barely scraping by,” while more than three-quarters of respondents said they are always looking for new ways to stretch the money they already earn.
"Many Gen Z-ers told us they return recyclables, cook from scratch, never pay full price for anything, and some invest in a good coffee maker of their own to replace their daily coffee run,” said Melanie Zikatano, BCAA's rewards program associate manager.
Still, more than half the millennial and Gen Z respondents in the survey said their jobs don’t cover enough to cover the basic costs of living.
“Even more concerning is that they are not optimistic about the future, with 88 per cent of young British Columbians expecting 'the essential costs of living to continue to soar this year,’” according to a summary of the poll’s findings.
The survey comes five months after Statistics Canada released its latest indicators of poverty across the country. The measure showed the number of Canadians in poverty spiked to 7.4 per cent in 2021, up from 6.4 per cent the year before after a multi-year decline. Later surveys have found an increasing share of Canadian households have found it difficult to meet their financial needs.
An analysis of the 2021 national census found poverty often cleaved along racial lines, with 10 out of 11 racial groups analyzed by StatCan having a higher poverty rate than the white population.
“For Black, Latin American, Arab, and West Asian groups, the difference in the poverty rate persisted into the third generation or more,” StatCan concluded.
The national statistics agency also reports an overall drop in average wages in recent years. In 2022, the median hourly wage for Canadian employees dropped to $27 from $27.76 in 2021.
Roughly 18.4 per cent of people in Canada now live in food-insecure households, a third of which are children, according to Food Bank Canada’s HungerCount 2023 study.
The study, also released Wednesday, found B.C. food bank visits were up 20 per cent since 2022, and more than 57 per cent since 2019.
“Housing costs and instability is a big cost. Increased costs for all essentials — food, energy, transport. Closing employment opportunities as businesses scale down or close,” one survey respondent from B.C. is quoted.
Or as the authors of the hunger report put it: “Status quo income support programs plus inflation = gasoline on a fire.”
According to the Angus Reid/BCAA poll, the economic challenges come as younger adult generations are increasingly interested in building community — both to foment a culture of borrowing and to trade skills or time.
That also includes replacing going out to a bar or restaurant with “simple pleasures,” like playing cards or board games with friends, the BCAA said.
The member-based organization carried out the survey between Oct. 10 and 17 as part of a new program designed for people without a car of their own.
The results, which included 504 British Columbians between 18 and 34, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.36 percentage points.
