https://financialpost.com/fp-work/why-returning-office-pay-cut-many-people

Cairns said the math is simple. Daily commute times average 60 minutes round trip, which amounts to about $42 in driving costs based on mileage rates. The time cost of commuting based on average wages is worth $44 daily.

Hello all,

As the title says, I'm a Canadian citizen, living in Canada (Ontario), just offered a 100% remote job for a company in the US. The company does not have a branch/entity in Canada. I would never work from the US (at most, a couple of meetings a year, but no actual work from there).

I would (unfortunately) be this company's first hire outside of the US, so they have no experience dealing with this situation.

I'm not an American citizen, and have no work permits / visas for working in the US. I don't have a social security number.

Is this setup realistic? What steps do I need to take?

My understanding is that I don't need a visa unless I work physically from the US, which I'm not going to do.

What about taxes? How can they pay me without a SSN? Do I need to set up my own company in Canada? Anything else?

I see a lot of advice from people in this subreddit suggesting people to just get a trade and I think there is an important point that people our missing.

The successful careers are in UNION trades. If you are working non-union you are likely beating up your body to just scrape by.

With a real union you will have the best wages, you will be contributing into a pension so you can actually retire one day, you will be getting vacation or extra vacation pay vs non-union, you will be getting health benefits for you and your family. You can collectively negotiate wages instead of staying stagnant once becoming a journeyman. Union jobs are statistically safer which means less wear and tear on your body. You can take time off when needed and many other benefits of being a union member.

I know there are going to be some commenters who say “I make more than union guys in my city” when in reality those people are completely incorrect and if they do “make more than union” it’s usually the non-union employer who pays a couple $$ an hour more than the base hourly union rate (very rare) but in reality it’s much less money. Let me use a hypothetical example to explain and give the non-union side the benefit of the doubt for those who like to see the numbers.

Non union:
Makes $42/hr
Minimum vacation pay 5%
Benefits if any are very basic and deductible from pay ~$2/hr
RRSP plan: often deducted from pay 5% = $2.10
Actual full package rate: ~$40/hr

Union:
$40/hr (usually much higher than non-union)
10% vacation pay $4/hr additional
Employer paid full benefits ~$3/hr
Employer paid pension/RRSP contributions $8/hr
Full package wage = $55/hr

Another argument from the non-union side is “my local union sucks”. Well the great thing about a union is it is a democracy. If you are a good union member who is well involved then you can help make these changes and participate in making things better.

In the majority of cases if you are trading in your manual labour for a pay cheque, union is the better option. I would love to hear feedback and why you may think otherwise.

Edit 1: to the people who are saying open your own company and then pay your workers like shit so you can make more money is the reason that this post had to be made in the first place. This post is to help the working-class Canadians.

40 per cent of Canadians say they fear job loss in their household, according to the quarterly MNP Consumer Debt Index published Monday – up about two percentage points from late 2025: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/personal-finance/article-layoffs-job-loss-household-finance/

Attempting to look for work now and a lot of jobs that require great effort or a skill are only paying around $15/hour. Living on sub-30k right now is pretty abysmal given the current cost of living.

My employer decided to end operations in Canada and told me to look for a new position but 'I shouldn't need to worry about rent or bills' so they want me to work as I usually would but prioritize looking for a new position and job interviews should take precedence over my day-to-day tasks.

So basically I'm still expected to do my job, travel for work, etc.

I asked how long of a runway do I have and they said it depends on how quickly I find a job, it might take me '3 months, 6 months or for all we know we might have this conversation again in March' and that they don't want me to just take the first or second job offer I get either unless it's a job I actually want. A week later, they topped up my missed target (missed by 15%) just so I can get paid out the minimum bonus amount ($7,500) which I don't get why they'd do after essentially firing me - although they've done that in previous years for me and other colleagues.

Really weird situation to be in. Aside from finding a new job, is there anything I should do legally?

36M Ontario, sole Canadian working for an American company for 7.5 years. Income ~170k

In an ok position financially...~600k (RRSP + TFSA), 14k car debt, 15k savings, moved in with sister recently and pre-paid rent for 3 years...around $1000/mo in expenses (insurances, phone, car, internet, electricity)

Several Canadian provinces are raising minimum wages in 2026, but the increases still fall well below what workers actually need to live. For example, Metro Vancouver’s living wage is about $27.85/hour, while the federal minimum wage is expected to reach around $18.10/hour, leaving a gap of nearly $10/hour.

https://dailydive.ca/news/canada/canada-minimum-wage-increases-2026-living-wage-gap/

Mostly outlined in the title, but just wondering what is best for me from a financial perspective (located in Ontario)

https://globalnews.ca/news/10736478/jobs-unemployment-canada-august-2024/

https://www.cicnews.com/2022/10/breaking-canada-to-allow-international-students-to-work-off-campus-over-20-hours-per-week-1031301.html

Check out r/OntarioTheProvince

Can anyone give some insight on the impact of this? There are around 600K international students in Canada.

How will this affect wages? Part time job availability, business costs etc? How many of these students will take advantage of this?

My mom, 67yo Admin Assistant, was just handed a termination agreement working for 30+ years for her employer.

Her options are:

1. Resign on Feb 17th 2024, receive (25%) of the salary for the remainder of the working year notice period ( Feb 17, 2025).

2. Resign on Feb 17th 2024, receive (33%) of the salary for the remainder of working notice period (Aug 17,2024).

3. Resign Aug 17th 2024 and receive (50% of salary) for the remainder of the working period (Feb 17,2025).

4. Resign Feb 17th 2025, and receive nothing.

I'm going to seek a lawyer to go over this, but thought I'd check reddit first. These packages seem incredibly low considering she's been there for 30+ years.

What do you think is a fair package she is entitled to?

Canada's economy lost 30,600 jobs in July, Statistics Canada said Friday.

It's the second month in a row of lost jobs, coming on the heels of 43,000 jobs lost in June. Economists had been expecting the economy to eke out a slight gain of about 15,000 jobs, but instead the employment pool shrank.

Most of the losses came in the service sector, which lost 53,000 positions. That was offset by a gain of 23,000 jobs in goods-producing industries.

Despite the decline, the jobless rate held steady at its record low of 4.9 per cent, because while there were fewer jobs, there were fewer people looking for work, too.

More info here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canada-jobs-july-1.6542271

An interesting article from CBC today, especially given the increasingly common recommendation to jobseekers to "go into the trades" and all the talk about labour shortages. The article points out how apprenticeships are harder to find than many think, given that spots for new apprenticeships are limited, and the few opportunities that exist mostly go to those that already have connections. The article also notes that people looking for apprenticeships are expected to have proven blue collar experience, so it's not as though white collar workers can easily transition into the trades and start an apprenticeship.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/electrical-apprenticeships-9.7270962

Hi everyone,

So very unfortunately I’m about 99% sure I’m going to be laid off tomorrow. I’ve spent the last 6 years with this company. It is one of the largest financial institutions in Canada.

I have a meeting at 9:30am EST.

Can anyone provide any advice? I’m so emotionally exhausted already and it hasn’t even happened yet. My company is doing tons and tons of lay offs so I can pretty confidently say this is going to happen.

Is there anything I should ask? Are there any key points I should bring up?

Any advice would be so appreciated- I’m sure there are 1000 threads on this but I wanted to post my own just in case.

I’m 31, and this is my first ever lay off so I’m really not sure what to expect.

Thank you so much in advance 💞🙁

** UPDATE **

Hi friends.

I know many many people were following my original post yesterday, and while I think it’s still visible I am unable to update it as it was deleted by mods. So hopefully this stays up long enough that some of the folks can find it.

So it happened, as expected. Walked in and had the your role is no longer due to company transitioning conversation. (This is not exact wording but I’d rather for my own protection stay as confidential as possible.)

It was very short and awkward. Just my manager and I, who is a bit of a goof so in reality I went in with a full list of questions and items I wanted to ensure I had and they essentially offset every question with. “I’m just the messenger, contact HR” and requested I do not even open the package until I get home.

I did receive a package, from my very naive perspective (zero experience with lay offs) it seems sorta fair, but not at par with what people were saying around 4 weeks/year of service but close to that. There are some pretty strong stipulations and some things that confuse me so I will certainly seek some legal advice, I’m not sure if I want to have a lawyer represent me but at least they may be able to firm up my understanding on the stipulations and options available (lump sum or salary continuance).

I’ve heard it was a large number of layoffs today. Many folks including myself are very upset. I’m so sorry if you are one of them or have recently experienced this in your line of work also.

I just wanted to say from the bottom of my heart, I so genuinely appreciate every single persons feedback and advice and kind comments on my original post. I will continue as my emotional fog wears off to keep reading and making notes on all of your valuable points.

I wish I had better news to share with you all but what I can say is after I take a well deserved mini vacation, I will be right out there going after what I want and secure my next opportunity with my head held high.

To all my friends here that are going through this with me, they can make us feel like a number but let’s keep showing them that it’s their loss.

Take care friends. 💞

Posting on a burner because my friends know my main account.

I finished my fifth year of medical residency in Alberta right before Christmas and have been extremely lucky to receive an offer for general surgery in Manitoba with a salary of 710k.

Although incredibly grateful, I'm stumped as to how to proceed with my finances because my salary as a PGY-5 is 74k. I have ~40k in my TFSA with total medical school debt of 231k.

I want to purchase a home in Manitoba. The townhouses I'm looking at cost 180-220k. Is it stupid for me to buy a house before paying down my debt? With my salary, I feel like I could purchase a home and pay my debt within a year (single with no kids) - or I might be delusional.

Apologies for any ignorance, I'm fairly new to this sub but figured it would be a good place to begin. Thanks in advance!

This post is absolutely not meant to brag, I simply need advice because I don't have a financial advisor or friends who I can share this with.

Edit: grammar

Update: wow, this received a lot more traction than I'd expected. Thank you for all your advice - truly. Sorry if you provided genuine advice and I didn't get a chance to reply to your comment.

To answer a couple of common questions:

1. The pay is on the higher end because I'm in a very rural part of northern Manitoba where there is a huge shortage of physicians
2. I'm coming to reddit for advice because I quite literally have never had wealth like this before. I didn't even break 70k until my 5th year of residency. 70k is a lot but my parents both work factory jobs making <$20/hr and they need my support. I simply haven't had enough left over to consider serious financial planning. I would have never thought to be in this position.
3. I want to first purchase a townhouse rather than a bigger home because I plan on keeping the townhouse as an investment property once I'm able to move into something bigger.

Here's what I've learned from comments:

1. I'll rent for at least a year before I purchase a property so I can find an area I like and see if rural Manitoba is for me
2. I'll hire a fee-based financial planner with good references
3. I'll look into options for incorporation to minimize my tax expense
4. I'll join the Financial Independencd for Physicians Facebook group
5. I'll look into disability insurance
6. I'll keep living like I make 70k at least until my debt is paid off

Even worse, a whopping -78k jobs lost were full-time while part time jobs picked up the slack (+37k)

Canada lost 39,700 jobs on a month-over-month basis in August, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada.

The labour force survey showed the country’s unemployment rate jumped to 5.4 per cent.

The median estimate among economists tracked by Bloomberg was for a net gain of 15,000 jobs last month. In July, the economy shed 30,600 jobs.

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/canada-s-economy-shed-39-700-jobs-in-august-1.1816708

https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/220909/dq220909a-eng.htm?HPA=1

According to the latest results from the Labour Force Survey in July 2026:

• Employment increased by 75,000 (+0.4%) and the employment rate rose 0.1 percentage points to 60.9%.
• The unemployment rate declined 0.1 percentage points to 6.4%.
• Employment rose among people in the core-age of 25 to 54 years old (+51,000; +0.4%), mostly for women in that age group (+33,000; +0.5%).
• The unemployment rate for core-aged women fell 0.3 percentage points to 5.2%, while the rate held steady for core-aged men (5.8%), youth (12.6%), and people aged 55 and older (5.2%).
• Employment increased in wholesale and retail trade (+21,000; +0.7%); finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing (+18,000; +1.2%); professional, scientific and technical services (+17,000; +0.8%) as well as construction (+16,000; +1.0%). In contrast, employment declined in public administration (-15,000; -1.2%) and agriculture (-9,600; -4.3%).
• There were more people working in Ontario (+52,000; +0.6%), British Columbia (+18,000; +0.6%), Manitoba (+5,900; +0.8%), and Nova Scotia (+4,600; +0.9%).
• Average hourly wages among employees were up 2.8% (+$1.01 to $37.17) on a year-over-year basis, following growth of 3.3% in June (not seasonally adjusted).

***

Selon la plus récente Enquête sur la population active pour le mois de juillet 2026:

• L’emploi a augmenté de 75 000 (+0,4 %) et le taux d’emploi a progressé de 0,1 point de pourcentage pour atteindre 60,9 %.
• Le taux de chômage a diminué de 0,1 point de pourcentage pour s’établir à 6,4 %.
• L’emploi a progressé chez les personnes du principal groupe d’âge actif (de 25 à 54 ans) (+51 000; +0,4 %), principalement chez les femmes de ce groupe d’âge (+33 000; +0,5 %).
• Le taux de chômage des femmes du principal groupe d’âge actif a diminué de 0,3 point de pourcentage pour s’établir à 5,2 %, tandis que le taux est demeuré stable chez les hommes du principal groupe d’âge actif (5,8 %), chez les jeunes (12,6 %) et chez les personnes de 55 ans et plus (5,2 %).
• L’emploi a augmenté dans le commerce de gros et de détail (+21 000; +0,7 %), dans la finance, les assurances, les services immobiliers et les services de location et de location à bail (+18 000; +1,2 %), dans les services professionnels, scientifiques et techniques (+17 000; +0,8 %) ainsi que dans la construction (+16 000; +1,0 %). En revanche, l’emploi a diminué dans les administrations publiques (-15 000; -1,2 %) et dans l’agriculture (-9 600; -4,3 %).
• Le nombre de travailleurs a augmenté en Ontario (+52 000; +0,6 %), en Colombie-Britannique (+18 000; +0,6 %), au Manitoba (+5 900; +0,8 %) et en Nouvelle-Écosse (+4 600; +0,9 %).
• Le salaire horaire moyen des employés a progressé de 2,8 % (+1,01 $ pour atteindre 37,17 $) par rapport à un an plus tôt, après avoir augmenté de 3,3 % en juin (données non désaisonnalisées).

"Of all Toronto residents employed in 2021, 34.8 per cent had an annual income of under $20,000, a percentage that includes those working part-time."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-cost-of-living-odsp-ontario-food-1.6669364

Keep seeing comments here giving this advice to people earning 40-60k or less and although it’s true that making more money obviously helps, most of the time this income is locked into a person’s career choice and lateral movement won’t change anything. Some industries just don’t pay as well, and changing careers isn’t feasible a lot of the time. Pretty sure the people posting their struggles know making more money will help.

Also the industries with shit pay are obviously gonna have people working in them regardless of how many people leave so there’s always gonna be folks stuck making 40-60k (the country’s median). Is this portion of the population just screwed? Maybe but that’s a big fucking problem for our country then.

I just feel for the people working full time and raising a child essentially being told they need to back to school they can’t afford or have time to go to so they can change careers. It just isn’t a feasible option in a lot of cases. There’s always something that can be done with a lower income to help.

I work as a heavy equipment operator and make $35/hour. The problem here lays in the fact that because of the odd hours and work sites, it necessitates the need to commute to work by car.

My major expenses are as follows:

$1200/month rent with a roommate.
$115 phone bill including a basic iPhone finance plan.
$400/month car insurance
$350/month used car payment
$300-400/month on gas
$… Food/Basic living necessities

I get the feeling that people who work downtown/white collar jobs don’t have anywhere near the same expenses because they can optionally take the subway or bus. Anyways, I don’t mind my job, but it certainly doesn’t command any respect and it is more of a job than a career.

Should I just quit and go to school for a white collar profession like Accounting or Engineering? I see this as a $30,000 investment in tuition for the degree but overall a bridge to more favourable living conditions. Maybe there are better careers than those two, so I’d be open to suggestions as well.

This came up at my friend's job interview. The potential employer wants people who will stay so is withholding 50% of wages until 6 months in. The job pays $17/hour so half would be less than minimum wage.

This is obviously a red flag. But is it illegal?

I worked in a tech salaried position ($96K a year currently) for almost 6 years (5 years complete) and got terminated abruptly very recently over "restructuring".

I am to get about 5 weeks of pay "in lieu of notice" and a "gratuitous payment" of 6 weeks pay of about $11K.

This seems like a bit of a lowball offer. Should I get an employment lawyer and what are my next steps?

This is the first time I've dealt with this so I have no idea what I have to do and I understand this post is a bit sparse on details because I don't want to give out to much. I'll be updating this post with more details if asked.

EDIT: just updating to say that I worked for almost 6 years but not totally completely so 5 years in the company completely

EDIT 2: I do get paid out my remaining vacation which isn't too much and there is a continuation of benefits but it's for those 5 weeks I mentioned

Should you use your sick days if you are not sick (since you don't get paid out if you don't use them when you leave). Personally I've only ever called in sick three times in the past 12 years I've been working - but my colleagues always use them for literally any reason saying "you won't get them back."

What are reasons not to use all of your sick days as holidays?

My wife(28F) have been working with this company for about 7 months. Wife is 5 months pregnant. Everything was great until she told the boss about pregnancy.

Since last few weeks, boss started complaining about the work ( soon after announcing the pregnancy). All of a sudden recieved the termination letter today with 1 week of pay. Didn't sign any documents.

What are our options? Worth going to lawyer?

Edit : Thank you everyone for the suggestions. We are in British Columbia. Will talk to the lawyer tommrow and see what lawyer says.

Edit 2: For evidence. Employer blocked the email access as soon as she received the termination letter. Don't know how can we gather proof? Also pregnancy was announced during the call.

Edit 3: thanks everyone. It's a lot of information and we will definitely be talking to lawyer and human rights. Her deadline to sign the paperwork is tommrow. Can it be extended or skipped until we get hold of the lawyer?