More than a third have worried “frequently” or “occasionally” about their employer running into serious financial trouble.
Vancouver, BC [April 7, 2020] – The proportion of Canadians who are apprehensive about specific economic issues during the COVID-19 outbreak is higher than it was during the global financial crisis of 2008, a new Research Co. poll has found.
In the online survey of a representative national sample, 52% of Canadians say they have worried “frequently” or “occasionally” about the safety of their savings in the past month.
Half of Canadians (50%) have worried about the value of their investments over the past four weeks, while slightly fewer have been concerned “frequently” or “occasionally” about unemployment affecting their household (46%), being able to pay mortgage or rent (41%) or their employer running into serious financial trouble (37%).
Compared to a similar survey conducted in September 2008—as the global financial crisis was developing—the proportion of Canadians who are troubled about the safety of their savings and the value of their investments has increased by 15 points and 12 points respectively.
“In late September 2008, 51% of Canadians had not worried at all about being able to pay their mortgage or rent,” says Mario Canseco, President of Research Co. “In early April 2020, only 41% feel the same way.”
The incidence of specific concerns varies across the country. At this point, Ontarians are the most worried about the safety of savings (59%), Albertans about unemployment affecting their household (52%) and British Columbians about being able to pay mortgage or rent (46%).
While only one-in-five Canadians aged 55 and over (20%) have worried “frequently” or “occasionally” about their employer running into serious financial trouble, the proportion climbs to 41% among Canadians aged 35-to-54 and 50% among Canadians aged 18-to-34.
When asked about investments, almost two thirds of Canadians (65%) say they plan to keep their current long-term strategy, while only 12% are planning to change their approach.
A majority of Canadians (52%) expect the domestic economy to perform better than Italy’s in the next six months.
Smaller proportions of Canadians foresee the domestic economy outpacing France (32%), China (29%), United Kingdom (26%), the United States (23%), Germany (22%) and Japan (20%).
Methodology:
Results are based on an online study conducted from March 30 to April 1, 2020, among 1,000 adults in Canada. The data has been statistically weighted according to Canadian census figures for age, gender and region. The margin of error—which measures sample variability—is +/- 3.1 percentage points, nineteen times out of twenty.
Find our full dataset here and download the press release here.
For more information on this poll, please contact:
Mario Canseco, President, Research Co.
778.929.0490
[e] mario.canseco@researchco.ca