VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Nov. 14, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Today, the Financial Resilience Institute in partnership with Coast Capital released its latest Economic Inclusion and Mobility Intelligence Memo, which provides robust data and analytics on the intersections between Canadians’ economic inclusion, employment and income volatility and household financial resilience and financial well-being.[1]
The Memo found the depth of financial challenges Canadians face continues to increase. A key finding of the report revealed that 84 per cent of people in Canada reported that the increase in the cost of living has outpaced their household income growth in the past year, underscoring the importance of enabling people in Canada to earn more to build the financial resiliency required to better weather external factors such as inflation and interest rate fluctuations.
Other critical insights from the report include:
- 55% of households report they face barriers impacting their ability to earn money, with one quarter ‘completely agreeing’ they face this economic inclusion barrier.
- Households that completely or somewhat agree they face barriers impacting their ability to earn money are significantly more financially vulnerable: with a mean financial resilience score of 42.6 as of June 2024. This is 20 Index points lower compared to Canadians not facing this economic inclusion barrier (62.9) based on the Institute’s June 2024 Financial Resilience Index model [1].
- Just over one-third of adult Canadian households reported they have taken on additional work or a side hustle in the past year to grow their household income.
- Job insecurity affects 39 per cent of Canadians, with 40 per cent of this group ‘Extremely Vulnerable’ with a financial resilience score of 0 to 30 [1].
- Income volatility or instability in a person’s or household’s income over time is a key issue with nearly one-in-five Canadians reporting their household income varies significantly or quite significantly month-to-month. These households are also more financially vulnerable compared to those not experiencing this challenge.
“Our latest Intelligence Memo shows that economic exclusion increases financial vulnerability for Canadians. 77% of the population experience financial vulnerability, regardless of income, and despite a third of households taking on side gigs in the past twelve months, financial challenges persist. Policymakers, employers, and others must focus on expanding access to employment and economic mobility to help strengthen financial resilience and improve overall well-being, particularly for vulnerable groups facing barriers,” said Eloise Duncan, CEO and Founder of Financial Resilience Institute.
As organizations both committed to strengthening Canadians’ financial resilience and well-being, this partnership demonstrates an innovative model focused on leveraging the expertise of each partner to address pressing societal issues and help support systems change.
“The fact that people in Canada are grappling with increasingly difficult financial circumstances isn’t surprising. However, this data and the broader story that it tells helps us, as a trusted financial partner, to better understand and tailor our advice, education and solutions to break down barriers and unlock financial opportunities for our members, employees and communities,” said Maureen Young, Vice President, Social Purpose, Coast Capital.
Coast Capital’s partnership with the Financial Resilience Institute adds to the federal financial institution’s growing body of initiatives that drive their purpose of Building Better Futures Together through unlocking financial opportunities that positively impact people and communities.
Earlier this year, Coast Capital introduced the latest product innovation focused on driving income growth, its Elevate Chequing Account. The account, which boasts all of the day-to-day banking features people want such as free e-Transfers and ID Assist 24/7 identity theft protection, also offers the added benefit of free access to Coursera’s online training to help advance careers and potentially help people grow their incomes.
To view the Intelligence Memo, visit https://www.finresilienceinstitute.org/economic-inclusion-and-mobility-intelligence-memo/ and to learn more about Coast Capital and its purpose of Building Better Futures Together, visit www.coastcapitalsavings.com/social-purpose.
About Financial Resilience Institute
Financial Resilience Institute is a non-profit organization and the leading independent authority on financial well-being in Canada. It measures and tracks household financial resilience, financial health and financial well-being through its longitudinal Financial Well-Being Studies and peer-reviewed Financial Resilience Index Model [1]. The Institute also recently released its free financial resilience score tool and bank of resources for Canadians, and its publicly available Financial Well-Being Model and Score. The Institute partners with financial institutions, policymakers, employers and innovators in Canada and globally to develop and implement evidence-based solutions that improve financial resilience, health and well-being for all.
About Coast Capital
At Coast Capital, we’re not dreaming about a better future, we’re building one. We’re a member-owned financial cooperative with an 80-year legacy of unlocking financial opportunities that positively impact people and communities. We believe that every Canadian deserves a financial partner who actually cares how things turn out. Driven by our social purpose, we look at everything we do through the lens of how we can help nearly 600,000 members, our employees, and communities. Ranked in the platinum category of the 2022 Corporate Knights’ Social Purpose Ranking and a proud Certified B Corporation™, we’re part of a global movement building a more inclusive, equitable and regenerative economic system. Each year, we invest 10% of our budgeted bottom line into our communities, which totals more than $100M since 2000. We’re deeply committed to making our financial cooperative a great place to work as demonstrated by some of our accolades. Coast Capital is a platinum member of Canada’s Best Managed Companies and one of Canada’s Most Admired Corporate Cultures. To learn more, visit us online at coastcapitalsavings.com.
About the Survey
[1] The proprietary Seymour Financial Resilience Index ® measures household financial resilience, i.e. your ability to get through financial hardship, stressors and shocks as a result of unplanned life events, across nine behavioural sentiment and resilience indicators. Households are scored from 0 to 100, with ‘Extremely Vulnerable’ having a financial resilience score of 0 to 30, ‘Financially Vulnerable’ a score of ’30.01 to 50, ‘Approaching Resilience’ a score of 50.01 to 70 and ‘Financially Resilient’ a score of 70.01 to 100. The first Index of its kind in the world, it measures household financial resilience in Canada at the national, provincial, and individual levels, backed by over nine years of data and with a pre-pandemic baseline of February 2020. Index data is updated every four months and based on a representative sample of population with 6218 adult decision makers as of June 2024. The Index has been peer-reviewed by Statistics Canada, UN-PRB, C.D. Howe Institute, Haver Analytics, and Financial Institutions using it. It is complemented by the Financial Well-Being studies instrument (2017-2024) and has applications in other countries. More information about the Index indicators, scoring model and development methodology are available at: https://www.finresilienceinstitute.org/indicators-and-scoring-model/
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