OTTAWA – In 2022, the Consumer Price Index rose 6.8%, the highest increase since 1982 (+10.9%). Prices for day-to-day goods and services such as transportation (+10.6%), food (+8.9%) and shelter (+6.9%) rose the most.
Canadians felt the impact of rising prices. Data from the Canadian Social Survey (CSS) show that the share of persons aged 15 and older living in a household experiencing difficulty meeting its necessary expenses trended upward from just under one-fifth (19%) in the summer of 2021 to just under one-quarter (24%) in the summer of 2022. By the end of 2022, more than one-third (35%) of the population lived in such a household.
In the summer of 2021, nearly half (48%) of the population lived in a household that found it easy or very easy to meet its necessary expenses, and by the end of 2022 this number had dropped to under one-third (29%).
This increase in financial difficulty is in line with findings from the Labour Force Survey showing that more than one-third of the population experienced financial difficulty in October 2022 compared with one-fifth in October 2020.
In the current release, persons who experienced financial difficulty are those who responded, “Very difficult” or “Difficult” to the following question in the CSS: “In the past 12 months, how difficult or easy was it for your household to meet its financial needs in terms of transportation, housing, food, clothing and other necessary expenses?”
While the trend of increasing difficulty in meeting necessary expenses was generally consistent across demographic groups and regions, some segments of the population remained more likely to experience a higher degree of financial challenges in fall 2022.
In the fall of 2022, adults aged 25 to 54 (42%) were more likely to live in a household that found it very difficult or difficult to meet its financial needs. Adults aged 15 and older looking for work (50%), renters (48%), recent immigrants (45%) and people living with children (42%) were also more likely to face this hardship.
The full report can be found here.
