New poll shows Albertans are increasingly worried about their finances

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A new nationwide poll shows Albertans are worried about their personal finances and feel as though they are falling behind as inflation rates continue to remain high.

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The poll, conducted in December by Pollara, surveyed 451 Albertans as part of a larger canvassing that recorded the feelings of 4,020 Canadians on how they felt toward personal, national and global finances. Dan Arnold, Pollara’s Chief Strategy Officer, said both Canadians and Albertans are more worried about their money than they have been over the past decade, noting Pollara has been running the poll for two decades.

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“This is the most pessimistic that Canadians have been since, really the economic crash in 2008, 2009 and the mood in Alberta is equally bleak,” said Arnold. “I know that there’s an economist’s definition of a recession that we don’t qualify for but Canadians are not economists, they kind of look around and they have a gut feeling and they’re feeling right now that things are not going very good.”

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Of the more than 450 Albertans polled, 47 per cent said they feel as though they have been losing ground financially over the past several years while 42 per cent felt as though they were holding their own. Eight per cent said they felt as though they were getting ahead.

Nationally, those numbers came in at 38 per cent, 44 per cent and 13 per cent respectively.There is a 4.7 per cent margin of error attributed to Albertan responses.

While looking to the future, 61 per cent of respondents said they felt their household incomes would fall behind inflation in 2023 and 74 per cent highlighted negative feelings about their financial situation.

“They already feel like things are not going great and there’s not a lot of optimism when you look ahead to 2023 either in Alberta or in the rest of the country for that matter,” said Arnold.

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The poll found 80 per cent of respondents from Alberta said they felt Canada’s economy is in a recession.

While definitions of what constitutes a recession it is generally accepted that one occurs when there is a slowing of spending or economic activity for two consecutive quarters. Other definitions keep its limits more broad using a phrase stating there must be a prolonged, widespread and significant downturn.

Analysts in Canada have made a number of assessments and predictions on the country’s economic outlook with some stating the country could be in for a “downturn” and others predicting a full recession.

Arnold said regardless of what occurs within the nation’s economy, high inflation levels have led to people across Canada, including in Alberta, stating they believe a recession is already occurring. He noted those feelings are persistent despite an overwhelming majority of respondents felt they were not at risk of losing their jobs in the next year.

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He said Albertans indicated they are most stressed about rising food prices with many people also pointing to housing costs and the price of gas as being stress points.

“If you feel like you are having more trouble this year balancing your checkbook than you did last year, you look at that, and you say the economy’s not doing great right now, things are not great and this feels like a recession to me,” said Arnold relaying how Albertans are feeling.

He said regardless of whether the country enters a recession or not, people feeling as though they are in one can have an effect on their spending habits as well as how they plan to vote.

“How people feel about the economy, impacts their attitude,” said Arnold.

dshort@postmedia.com