Record stress levels tied to economic health: study

Calgarians’ stress levels could be almost as accurate a gauge of the city’s economy as employment figures, suggests a new University of Calgary study.

And according to that study — culled from more than 30,000 client calls — that level of anxiety in Calgary has hit record levels.

The research, using statistics collected by the Calgary Counselling Centre, shows how closely employment numbers and stress levels trend together in a city that’s had more than its share of ups and downs in recent years.

That close match surprised U of C economics professor Ron Kneebone.

“It wasn’t obvious to me it would be as strong as it is. The correlation is really high and it surprised me how impactful the stress is on health,” said Kneebone, who authored the report published by the School of Public Policy.

The paper tracks an employment rate of 74 per cent in 2008 accompanied by a stress level rating of 72, which is the global average.

But as that employment number dropped to about 69 per cent in late 2014, when oil prices crashed, that stress figure jumped to more than 74. By 2019, that stress level had jumped further to nearly 80, as the employment rate fell to about 68 per cent.

“Seventy is like, ‘Okay, we can live with that,’ but when it gets up to 80, it’s really high,” said Kneebone. “That can really lead to suicide, domestic violence — it’s a growth industry, unfortunately.”

One of those Calgarians out of a job and dealing with lingering anxiety is film worker Diana Polowick, whose last shoot was in the summer of 2019.

“I find there’s no real hope anymore,” she said of job prospects in a sector that’s flailing due to ebbing economic viability and the COVID -19 pandemic.

“I know a lot of people, especially among theatre groups, where there’s no hope in opening really soon,” she said, adding that she might even seek employment as a long-haul trucker if the curtain doesn’t rise soon on her acting career.

“It (the situation) is impossible; so, you have to do something to keep up the house and pay the bills,” she said.

The U of C study uses data collected from 29,579 Calgary Counselling Centre clients from 20142019 and another set dating back to 2008.

With the more recent economic jolts of the coronavirus pandemic and an even more dramatic plunge in oil prices, those stress numbers are almost sure to worsen, said the centre’s CEO, Dr. Robbie Babins-wagner.

“The stress is really higher than we’ve seen before; things like depression, anxiety, relationships, how they’re doing at school,” said Babins-wagner.

“With COVID-19, maybe not at first, but I expect it’ll climb as unemployment increases — this is one of the factors that will create more demand for agencies like mine.”

Last year, client registration with the counselling centre reached 11,232 — up from 9,676 in 2018.

“We’ve seen it skyrocket since 2014,” she said.

Stress levels never really dropped after the 2014 petroleum price debacle, she said, noting we live in a world where employment is more than a job.

“People see themselves and their sense of worth in their employment, and how stubborn this downturn has been has made this time different,” said Babins-wagner.

Unemployment-related calls to the centre hit a peak percentage — 16 per cent — in 2016 and dropped to 12.4 per cent two years ago “but that’s increasing again,” she said.

Her agency has found itself increasingly involved with clients struggling to adapt to a changing workplace, said Babins-wagner.

“How are they going to use their skills in a new way? That’s a real challenge for people,” she said.