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Half Of BC Employees Live Paycheque To Paycheque, Save Under 10% Of Earnings

BC Employees

A recent poll has shown that BC Employees aren’t able to live comfortably or save for the future.

The poll, conducted by the Canadian Payroll Association, surveyed a total of 5,074 employees across Canada between Friday, June 22nd and Wednesday, August 1st. Further, they ensured the survey included respondents from diverse industry sectors.

The poll found that 66% of national employees report being in a better financial position than a year ago; however, national respondents, and those in BC, continue to have high debt levels, chronically undersave for retirement, and put themselves at severe risk in the event of economic changes.

RELATED: Study Ranks Vancouver The Unhappiest City In Canada

“BC Employees show high economic confidence, but many live pay cheque to pay cheque,” the survey reports. Specially, “Half of BC employees (49%) live pay cheque to pay cheque.”

Despite these findings, BC employees have high economic confidence. In fact, 42% think their local economy will improve in the next year.

BC Employees Poll

What’s more, the poll found that 1 in 5 working Canadians say they can’t not come up with just $2,000 within a month for an emergency expense. In BC, the findings are worse, with 1 in 4 respondents saying they couldn’t come up with the money.

In addition, 69% of BC employees said they save 10% or less of their earnings. This may be due to the fact that 38% of BC employees report increases in the amount of debt over past year. This figure is more than the national average of 34%, and among the highest nationally.

The Canadian Payroll Association’s National Payroll Week website provides free financial literacy resources for working Canadians, employers and payroll professionals. Visit payroll.ca/npw for more.

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