Survey suggests we’re slightly more concerned about our personal finances than the national average

According to a Leger survey of economic confidence in Canada released Wednesday, Manitobans remain loyal to their modest expectations for the future and their relative satisfaction with the current situation.

Overall, Manitoba was pretty closely in sync with national sentiment showing more optimism this year compared to last, but still not at pre-pandemic levels.

But the Manitoba results?? Leger has been producing this kind of survey nationally for a few years and has for the first time retrieved results from Manitoba (as well as British Columbia and Alberta)?? deviate slightly with respect to projected trends in household income. Manitobans are seven per cent less optimistic than the national average and are more worried than the national average about six different areas of personal finance issues.

Andrew Enns, executive vice-president of Leger in Winnipeg, points out that in many ways Manitoba is following national trends, but tends to be less optimistic about economic expectations when it comes to personal finances.

??The one area where I have seen Manitoba lag a little more is in projected household income trends?? he said.

When you were asked, ? In 2022, do you expect your total household income to increase, decrease or stay about the same compared to 2021??? 32% of respondents nationally said they expected it to increase a little or a lot, but only 25% felt the same way in Manitoba.

This manifests as a slightly higher level of concern when asked how often people worry about personal finance issues like value of investments, security of savings, paying bills.

A slightly higher percentage of Manitobans say they worry about these things compared to the national average.

??That makes sense,?? says Enns. “It” is hard to understand why this is the case in Manitoba, but I think people are partly thinking, “If this happens at the end of the year, I’m better than fine” to me. I’ll be happy to be surprised but I’m not going to bet on it??.??

Enns believes that this mood is at least partly due to the fact that Manitobans?? are used to a fairly stable economic history.

?? Unlike other parts of the country where they have a bit more of a boom/bust cycle, Manitobans tend not to experience this and this translates into our expectations that things will never get so terribly bad… but also things will never be terribly good, ?? says Enns.

According to Leger’s tracking, confidence in the national economy has improved since February 2021 – from 32% feeling good or very good about the economy to 39% in January?? but remains milder than before the pandemic when it was just 57%.

Chuck Davidson, president and CEO of the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce, said the lagging optimism in Manitoba shown in the survey contrasts somewhat with a survey of business people the chamber did just before Christmas before the arrival of the Omicron variant.

“Compared to the survey we conducted specifically on optimism, the general public is much more pessimistic than the business community, ? Davidson said. ??When we asked the question in our fall survey about optimism, almost 90 percent of companies were optimistic about the future.??

Davidson said the fact that the public is more concerned about their personal finances will mean a drag on consumer confidence.

“If you have public concerns about saving and investing and 55% are worried about their ability to pay their bills, that doesn’t bode well for the business world when you have an audience that is nervous about his own personal finances,”? he said.

Davidson also points out that feelings about economic confidence vary depending on the economic sector in which the respondent is engaged.

??When you talk to people, most will tell me that this is either the worst year for their business or the best,?? he said. ?? If you’re in certain industries like hospitality or retail or others that have been really hammered for two years, I absolutely understand that you’d be nervous because those companies just don’t have the capacity to make investments.??

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca

Martin Cash
Journalist

Martin Cash has written a column and business news for the Free Press since 1989. During those years he wrote through a number of business cycles and the rise and fall (and rise) of the fortunes of many local businesses .

Read the full biography