According to a national survey, half of the working population in Alberta is living pay cheque to pay cheque and spending and debt levels are hindering many people’s ability to save under the current economic conditions.

The poll from the Canadian Payroll Association shows that 48 percent of those surveyed nationally said they rely on each pay cheque to cover their bills and for Albertans, that number is 50 percent.

A quarter of those polled also said they wouldn't be able to come up with $2,000 if an emergency situation occurred within the next month.

“A significant percentage of working Canadians carry debt, have a gloomy view of their local economy and are fearful of rising interest rates, inflation, and costs of living,” said Patrick Culhane, the Canadian Payroll Association’s President and CEO in a release on Wednesday. “In this time of uncertainty, people need to take control of their finances by saving more.”

Culhane says people should gain control of their financial future and automatically direct at least 10 percent of their net pay into a separate savings account or retirement plan.

Just 47 percent of Canadians surveyed said they are able to save five percent or less of their earnings.

The survey suggests that debt levels and spending have affected many people’s ability to save and in Alberta, 42 percent said they spend all or more than their net pay, compared to 40 percent nationally.

Almost half of Albertans said they are feeling overwhelmed by debt and 10 percent said they do not believe they will ever be debt free.

The most common type of debt cited by respondents was:

  • Mortgage (26 percent)
  • Credit-card debt (18 percent)
  • Car loans (17 percent)
  • Line of credit (16 percent)

Nicole Ragguette is among those Albertans whose family is living cheque to cheque and says they have had to restructure their finances to make ends meet.

“Redefining what a want and a need is, you know, things like, do our kids really need $20 worth of junk food in their lunches at school,” she said. “And do we have to have high-speed Internet or are we okay with just regular Internet for now and do we really need 280 channels or are we okay with 45 or 26, whatever the basic channels are? Being mindful of how we’re spending money is a big deal.”

Ragguette says she picked up some helpful financial literary tools through Momentum and that people should reach out if they need help.

“If you’ve missed a pay cheque, you need to get help from somewhere, don’t go through it alone, there’s resources that can help you. Momentum has many really good programs and plans for people that are low-income or that are struggling,” she said.

Momentum’s Community Relations Director, Carolyn Davis, says budgeting is not a habit for many households and that living pay cheque to pay cheque can happen at any income level.

“It’s time to take a really good look at what are your true expenses. So most people have a sense of what amount of money is coming in, a much lower number know what’s going out and so the first step is to track the money that’s going out of your bank account. Everything that you spend money on for a period of two weeks to a month, that can give you a good sense of what actually are those expenses,” she said.

Davis says the next step is to look at what payments could be broken into pieces, like car insurance, and to create a budget.

“That’s something that you would put into your budget, so once you know your money in and you have a sense of expenses coming out, then you have the foundation to build a budget.”

Albertans remain optimistic about the province’s future and 45 percent of those surveyed said they believe the local economy will improve, which is among the highest in Canada.

Nationally, only 36 percent of respondents said they expect the economy to pick up in their communities.

In Alberta, 62 percent said they expect to need a nest egg of at least $1 million and 76 percent have saved only one-quarter or less of what they feel they will need to retire.

Almost half of Canadians surveyed said they now expect to work longer than they had originally planned five years ago and nationally the target age for retirement has risen from 60 to 62.

Financial stability is top of mind for many but only 28 percent of Albertans said higher wages are a priority and almost half of those polled said better work-life balance and a healthy work environment are more important.

The online poll was conducted by Framework Partners between June 27 and August 5 and a total of 5,629 employees were sampled from a number of sectors including forestry, manufacturing, government, oil and retail.

Click HERE to see more results from the survey.