Almost half of Canadians polled said they are living paycheque to paycheque and would find it difficult to meet their financial obligations if their pay was delayed by just a week.

The situation is worst in Ontario, British Columbia and Atlantic Canada.

Less than one quarter of respondents said they could probably not come up with $2,000 if an emergency arose within the next month. Some 36 per cent of working Canadians said they felt overwhelmed by their level of debt and 12 per cent doubted they’ll ever be debt-free.

Survey results are stable from last year, but suggested that employees are losing confidence in the economy. Just 33 per cent expect it to improve in the next year, down from an average of 41 per cent over the past three years. The percentage of those who feel it will worsen has increased 10 percentage points to 27 per cent.

The age of being able to retire is going up with many having to work for 4 more years than they expected.

Source – Survey by Canadian Payroll Association