Lowered expectations? Young Albertans most financially stressed but no more worried about being 'left behind'
Social Sharing
EDITOR'S NOTE: CBC News commissioned this public opinion research to be conducted immediately following the federal election and leading into the second anniversary of the United Conservative Party's provincial election win in May 2023. As with all polls, this one provides a snapshot in time. This analysis is one in a series of articles from this research.
Mark Patzer is among a minority of Albertans his age; he's very confident he'll have enough money saved for retirement.
"I just started planning at a young age," said Patzer, 27, who works as an environmental scientist in Calgary. "I have an RRSP. I prioritized putting money toward that over other things for the hope of one day retiring."
He credits his financial situation to decisions he made in his early 20s: "Living at home for a while, living with roommates for a while, just doing the uncomfortable situations for as long as possible to get ahead financially, because it's harder to do nowadays."
He also counts himself lucky to have found a good job shortly after graduating.
"I started making a livable salary right out of school, which sometimes takes people a while," he said.
In the past, a livable salary for a post-secondary graduate may have been an expectation. But these days, it's less of a given for young folks like Patzer. His perspective might help explain a puzzling result from a recent poll conducted for CBC Calgary.
On the one hand, young people are more likely than older people to say they're having trouble meeting their monthly expenses. That's not too surprising. Young people also tend to be less confident when it comes to having enough money saved for retirement. Again, not surprising.
On the other hand, young people are just as likely as older Albertans to agree that, "If things keep going the way they are, people like me will get left behind."
That's the surprising bit.
"When we asked people about feeling left behind, we thought we'd see a generational difference in there — and we didn't see that," said pollster Janet Brown, who conducted the public-opinion research for CBC News.
"One of the first things we do is we look for those subgroup differences. But sometimes when you don't see subgroup differences, that can be interesting too."
So what is going on here?
A statistical analysis of the poll results suggests young people's thoughts on being "left behind" are tied less to their personal financial situation, compared to older folks. It's hard to say definitively why that is, but some of it may have to do with different expectations than previous generations when it comes to work and life, a sense of camaraderie with others going through the same struggles, and good old youthful optimism that there's plenty of time to turn things around.
The data differences
Brown said the survey questions were designed to track a wide range of Albertans' sentiments and examine the relationships between those sentiments.
The "left behind" question, in particular, was deliberately worded in a way that could leave respondents with some room for interpretation.
"It's about getting at that fundamental value of whether they feel there's something that's inherently unfair for people like them," said Brown.
That broader question was accompanied by much more specific questions about individual financial situations.
You can see the results from those questions in the charts below.
Quite clearly, the below results show younger people are more worried than older folks about both their short-term and long-term finances.
John Santos, a data scientist with the Janet Brown Opinion Research polling firm, says you can see a relationship in the poll results between Albertans' sense of financial security and their sentiments about being "left behind" — except among the youngest Albertans.
Among the oldest folks, those who worried more about their personal finances were also much more likely to worry about being "left behind."
However, Santos says that statistical relationship diminishes as respondents get younger, to the point of disappearing altogether.
When it comes to 18-to-24-year-olds, in particular, there was no statistically significant difference in their responses to the "left behind" question, whether they were comfortable about their retirement savings or not.
It's possible, Santos said, that retirement just seems so far off for many young people that other considerations may be top of mind when answering the "left behind" question.
Young folks may also feel "they have time to make up any kind of lost financial ground," he said, while the reality of what retirement looks like may be more apparent for older folks.
Brown also believes it has a lot to do with where people are compared to where they figured they would be at this point in their lives.
"We think it has to do with expectation," she said. "When people got their education or training, what kind of an income were they expecting and are they getting that?"
And this brings us back to Patzer and his "livable salary" at age 27.
Grading on a curve?
Young people these days have adjusted their expectations to fit with the reality they face, Patzer believes.
So while many might be struggling to find good jobs, buy houses and save for retirement, there's a sense of camaraderie in the struggle.
Patzer offered an analogy that would be familiar to university and college students: "If you fail a test, but your friend also fails, then you don't feel as bad, because you're both in the same position."
Especially for people in that 18-to-24 age range who are looking around at each other, he said, everyone might seem to be going through the same kinds of challenges, so no one seems "left behind."
"I think that was the case when we were all 23, 24, and no one really had that clear path yet," he said. "People were starting jobs, but the financial differences weren't that apparent."
But a few years later, he's already starting to see that change.
"Now that I'm 27, turning 28, I think that separation of what people's salaries are, is becoming a lot more evident," he said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
National Post
28 minutes ago
- National Post
Former Liberal cabinet minister John McCallum dead at 75, family says
Article content John McCallum, a former Liberal cabinet minister and a mainstay of 21st-century Canadian politics, has died at age 75, his family confirms. Article content A statement says McCallum passed away peacefully Saturday, surrounded by family. Article content McCallum was first elected to the House of Commons to represent the Greater-Toronto-Area riding of Markham in 2000 after a career that included stints as chief economist at the Royal Bank of Canada and dean of arts at McGill University. Article content Article content He would go on to serve as a cabinet minister for three different Liberal prime ministers across a variety of portfolios. Article content Article content
National Post
34 minutes ago
- National Post
Canadians say Carney government failed them as Iranian missiles landed in Israel
The Carney government largely failed to help Canadian citizens safely and quickly exit Israel as Iran began its deadly bombardment of civilian areas late last week, according to two evacuees. Article content Two Canadians who spent several days sheltering intermittently in bomb shelters say they found safe passage via Birthright, an organization that brings members of the Jewish diaspora to Israel on a 10-day sponsored trip to learn more about the country. Article content Article content Article content 'The messaging has been all over the place,' Pe'er Krut told National Post. 'What I can tell you for sure is that Birthright took it in their own hands completely to help Canadian students get out of Israel.' Article content Ottawa finally announced an evacuation plan on June 20 as Krut and others fled the Iranian bombs with Birthright's help. Article content Hi @AnitaAnandMP As you know, most countries operating diplomatic missions in Israel have been getting their citizens out for days now. As you also know it's really not that complicated to mount an overland evacuation operation to Jordan. And as you should know, there are other… — Vivian Bercovici (@VivianBercovici) June 21, 2025 Article content Article content Krut, a Torontonian in Jerusalem doing a legal internship over the summer, said she got word on June 16 from her program organizers, Onward — which falls under the umbrella of Birthright — that plans were in motion to evacuate her and others from Israel. Over the intervening days while the logistics were ironed out, Krut recalls spending hours running back and forth to a bomb shelter as Iranian missiles struck Israel. Article content Article content 'We were going up and down every few hours for a few days, it felt like I started to get to know every face, their personalities. People would bring food for the community. The same person would hold the door open for all the people in wheelchairs, the same baby would always be crying in the corner, comforted by some random other neighbour who would help out.' Article content On June 20, Krut boarded a cruise ship in Ashdod, a town just south of Tel Aviv, with hundreds of Birthright participants from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom bound for Cyprus. 'We all signed waivers and they bussed us to the boat,' she said. 'This is like a Mission Impossible escape plan, what they pulled off.'
CBC
an hour ago
- CBC
John McCallum, former cabinet minister, dead at 75
John McCallum, a former federal Liberal cabinet minister, has died. He was 75. A statement from McCallum's family said he died peacefully surrounded by his loved ones. "To us, John was simply a loving and kind family man with a witty sense of humour," the statement reads. McCallum was elected the Liberal MP for Markham-Unionville in 2000. Throughout his political career, he served as a cabinet minister in several portfolios, including national defence, veterans affairs, revenue, and immigration, refugees and citizenship. As former prime minister Justin Trudeau's first immigration minister, McCallum helped resettle 50,000 Syrian refugees in Canada. He also served as ambassador to China from 2017-19, becoming Canada's first political appointment to Beijing. He went on to lose his post over comments he made during the diplomatic crisis surrounding Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou's fight to avoid extradition to the U.S. from Canada. Prior to entering politics, McCallum served as chief economist for the Royal Bank of Canada and dean of arts at McGill University in Montreal. The family has asked for privacy.
