Population growth highest in western suburbs

The Canadian Payroll Association says Ontarians aren’t immune to a national trend of spending too much and saving too little.

The association’s ninth annual survey found 42 per cent of people living in Ontario spend all of their net paycheque, right in line with the national average of 41 per cent.

It says 43 per cent of Ontarians save just five per cent of their paycheques, well shy of a recommended 10 per cent threshold.

A quarter of Ontarians say they would be unable to come up with $2,000 in a single month to address an emergency, slightly above the Canadian average of 22 per cent.

And 32 per cent of Ontarians report a spike in their debt levels, while 37 per cent of them say they feel overwhelmed by the amounts they owe. Both figures are in line with national averages.

The association blames a higher cost of living for an overall increase in spending, which in turn leads to a rise in overall debt levels.

“Half of Ontarians live paycheque to paycheque, further underscoring the need to spend less and save more every day, for emergencies and for retirement,” association vice-president of operations Janice MacLellan said in a statement.

“The survey results also show that it’s very difficult for people to change or reduce their spending patterns. By paying yourself first through automatic payroll deductions, you are diverting money into a retirement or savings account before you have the opportunity to think about spending it.”

The survey found 47 per cent of Canadians reported being unable to meet their financial obligations if their paycheques were delayed for a single week.

The survey, which polled 4,766 Canadian employees between June 27 and Aug. 5, also found that 35 per cent said they feel overwhelmed by their level of debt.

The polling industry’s professional body, the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they don’t randomly sample the population.