Lowered expectations? Young Albertans most financially stressed but no more worried about being 'left behind'

EDITOR'S NOTE: CBC News commissioned this public opinion research to be conducted immediately following the federal election and leading into the second anniversary of the United Conservative Party's provincial election win in May 2023.  As with all polls, this one provides a snapshot in time. This analysis is one in a series of articles from this research.

Mark Patzer is among a minority of Albertans his age; he's very confident he'll have enough money saved for retirement.

"I just started planning at a young age," said Patzer, 27, who works as an environmental scientist in Calgary. "I have an RRSP. I prioritized putting money toward that over other things for the hope of one day retiring."

He credits his financial situation to decisions he made in his early 20s: "Living at home for a while, living with roommates for a while, just doing the uncomfortable situations for as long as possible to get ahead financially, because it's harder to do nowadays."

He also counts himself lucky to have found a good job shortly after graduating.

"I started making a livable salary right out of school, which sometimes takes people a while," he said.

In the past, a livable salary for a post-secondary graduate may have been an expectation. But these days, it's less of a given for young folks like Patzer. His perspective might help explain a puzzling result from a recent poll conducted for CBC Calgary.

On the one hand, young people are more likely than older people to say they're having trouble meeting their monthly expenses. That's not too surprising. Young people also tend to be less confident when it comes to having enough money saved for retirement. Again, not surprising.

On the other hand, young people are just as likely as older Albertans to agree that, "If things keep going the way they are, people like me will get left behind."

That's the surprising bit.

"When we asked people about feeling left behind, we thought we'd see a generational difference in there — and we didn't see that," said pollster Janet Brown, who conducted the public-opinion research for CBC News.

"One of the first things we do is we look for those subgroup differences. But sometimes when you don't see subgroup differences, that can be interesting too."

So what is going on here?

A statistical analysis of the poll results suggests young people's thoughts on being "left behind" are tied less to their personal financial situation, compared to older folks. It's hard to say definitively why that is, but some of it may have to do with different expectations than previous generations when it comes to work and life, a sense of camaraderie with others going through the same struggles, and good old youthful optimism that there's plenty of time to turn things around.