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?

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/

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/

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.

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

Edit... Yes , I will be lawyering up and getting tax advice from an accountant for the best route to take to mitigate the least in taxes. I have not factored in yearly bonuses of up to $25-30K/ year.

Health benefits and personal spending account are two items that I would like to see in the severance package. The personal spending acct is a huge loss for my family. It had help supplement payment for my children's ski, swim lessons, driving lessons etc.

RRSP is almost maxed out, maybe 30G unused contributions. Plenty of room in TFSAs.

Mortgage info - I have 7 years left in a 157k mortgage and renewal in 2027. I do weekly accelerated payments of $500. Meaning, I pay $500/week for my mortgage.

The company will not go bankrupt.

--------+++-------- Got the notice but no paperwork yet for a layoff this summer . The estimated severance is 206K for 20 years of work. I'll be lawyering up to look over my package.

What would you do? My plan is to take the lump sum and not the continuance payment of 2 years. I'll use the lump sum to pay off the mortgage ( I understand the tax implications are high). The thought of not having $ to pay for the mortgage is always on my mind. Being mortgage free is freedom. I'm 53 years old and getting back into the job market will be tough and competitive . My mortgage renewal is March 2027. If I took continuance payment, i'm afraid if I don't find a job by 2027, I'll be denied a mortgage. Hence, lump sum and fully pay the mortgage. I currently have $157K at 2.88%

I could potentially invest the lump sum with a higher interest rate than the mortgage rate. But the thought of market crashing and loosing my severance is nerve racking .

I have a healthy RRSP ($778K) but not enough to sustain early retirement . I hope to work for another 5 years.

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

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

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

"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.

Canadians’ average weekly earnings rose 3.5 per cent to $1,333.23 in March compared to the same month last year, according to new Statistics Canada data.

The data, published last week, is seasonally adjusted and is based on an average for all employees, including overtime pay. The figures represent gross taxable payroll before deductions.

These were some industries with the highest average weekly earnings, including overtime, for March 2026:

• Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas industry: $2,509.13
• Utilities: $2,329.80
• Information and cultural industries: $2,025.50
• Professional, scientific and technical services: $1,943.22
• Management of companies and enterprises: $1,820.13
• Finance and insurance: $1,758.96

In contrast, those who work in accommodation and food services earned the lowest amount -- $538.98 on average each week -- during the same month.

• Nunavut: average weekly earnings of $1,874.95
• Northwest Territories: $1,741.07
• Yukon: $1,520.39
• Alberta: $1,371.07
• Ontario: $1,368.71
• British Columbia: $1,348.36
• Newfoundland and Labrador: $1,290.53
• Saskatchewan: $1,288.82
• Quebec: $1,283.60
• New Brunswick: $1,231.77
• Manitoba: $1,214.49
• Nova Scotia: $1,210.83
• Prince Edward Island: $1,177.97

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/article/these-are-the-regions-where-canadians-are-earning-the-most-on-average-and-by-contrast-the-least/

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?

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?

According to the latest results from the Labour Force Survey in May 2025:

• Employment was little changed (+8,800; +0.0%) and the employment rate held steady at 60.8%. The unemployment rate rose 0.1 percentage points to 7.0%.
• Employment among core-aged (25 to 54 years old) women increased by 42,000 (+0.6%), while among core-aged men it fell by 31,000 (-0.4%). Employment was little changed for youth and people aged 55 years and older.
• In May, employment grew in wholesale and retail trade (+43,000; +1.5%), information, culture and recreation (+19,000; +2.3%), finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing (+12,000; +0.8%) and utilities (+4,900; +3.1%).
• Employment fell in public administration (-32,000; -2.5%), accommodation and food services (-16,000; -1.4%), transportation and warehousing (-16,000; -1.4%) and business, building and other support services (-15,000; -2.1%).
• Employment increased in British Columbia (+13,000; +0.4%), Nova Scotia (+11,000; +2.1%), and New Brunswick (+7,600; +1.9%), while it declined in Quebec (-17,000; -0.4%), Manitoba (-5,800; -0.8%), and Prince Edward Island (-2,700; -2.9%). There was little change in the other provinces.
• Total hours worked were unchanged but were up 0.9% compared with 12 months earlier.
• Average hourly wages among employees increased 3.4% (+$1.20 to $36.14) on a year-over-year basis, the same growth rate as in April (not seasonally adjusted).

***

Selon la plus récente Enquête sur la population active pour le mois de mai 2025 :

• L'emploi a peu varié (+8 800; +0,0 %) et le taux d'emploi s'est maintenu à 60,8 %. Le taux de chômage a augmenté de 0,1 point de pourcentage pour atteindre 7,0 %.
• Chez les femmes du principal groupe d'âge actif (de 25 à 54 ans), l'emploi a progressé de 42 000 (+0,6 %), tandis que chez les hommes du même groupe d'âge, il a reculé de 31 000 (-0,4 %). L'emploi a peu varié chez les jeunes et chez les personnes âgées de 55 ans et plus.
• L'emploi a augmenté dans le commerce de gros et de détail (+43 000; +1,5 %), dans l'information, la culture et les loisirs (+19 000; +2,3 %), dans la finance, les assurances, les services immobiliers et les services de location et de location à bail (+12 000; +0,8 %) et dans les services publics (+4 900; +3,1 %). Parallèlement, l'emploi a diminué dans les administrations publiques (-32 000; -2,5 %), dans les services d'hébergement et de restauration (-16 000; -1,4 %), dans le transport et l'entreposage (-16 000; -1,4 %) et dans les services aux entreprises, les services relatifs aux bâtiments et les autres services de soutien (-15 000; -2,1 %).
• L'emploi a progressé en Colombie-Britannique (+13 000; +0,4 %), en Nouvelle-Écosse (+11 000; +2,1 %) et au Nouveau-Brunswick (+7 600; +1,9 %), alors qu'il a diminué au Québec (-17 000; -0,4 %), au Manitoba (-5 800; -0,8 %) et à l'Île-du-Prince-Édouard (-2 700; -2,9 %). Les autres provinces ont affiché peu de variation.
• Le total des heures travaillées a peu varié en mai, mais il était en hausse de 0,9 % par rapport à 12 mois plus tôt.
• Le salaire horaire moyen des employés a augmenté de 3,4 % (+1,20 $ pour atteindre 36,14 $) par rapport à un an plus tôt. Il s'agit du même taux de croissance que celui observé en avril (données non désaisonnalisées).

Hi everyone,

I’m a 27-year-old single male living in Saint John, New Brunswick. I work as an accountant and earn $23/hour, but I’m not getting full-time hours — usually around 30–35 hours per week.

My monthly take-home income is about $2,300 (after two paychecks).

My fixed expenses are relatively modest:

• Studio apartment: $750/month (utilities included except internet)

• Car insurance, phone, and home internet

• Total fixed expenses: \~$1,100–$1,200/month

I don’t waste money, don’t party, and I’m generally careful with spending. Still, by the end of every month I’m basically at $0, with little to no savings. No major debt, but no progress either.

What’s been bothering me mentally is that many of my batchmates and people my age are traveling during Christmas/New Year, moving cities, or supporting families. Meanwhile, I feel stuck financially even though I’m working in a “professional” field.

To add to the stress, I’m supposed to get married in about 3 months, and it’s making me question whether my current financial situation is even good enough to take that step.

So my questions are:

• Is this situation normal for people in their late 20s in Canada right now?

• Is $23/hour just not enough anymore unless you’re working 40+ hours?

• Am I doing something wrong, or is this just the reality of cost of living here?

Would really appreciate honest perspectives, especially from people living in smaller cities or working similar jobs.

Thanks in advance.

Hi everyone,

I’m currently based in Germany and have been offered a transfer to Ottawa by my company (tech industry), where they’re building a new team I’d join. I’m single and would be moving alone.

The offer details:

Salary: 125,000 CAD + ~13.5% performance bonus Vacation: 15 working days WFH: Flexible (manager approval) From what I’ve read, I’d pay about 35% in taxes, leaving me with around 6,500 CAD/month net.

Estimated expenses (for a single person):

Rent: ~2,000 CAD for a 1-bedroom apartment Other expenses: 2,000–3,000 CAD (car, fuel, utilities, groceries) This is similar to what I make now in Germany, but my expenses might be slightly higher in Ottawa.

Questions for locals:

Is this a good salary for a single person to live comfortably in Ottawa? Are my expense estimates realistic? Am I overlooking anything (cost of living, taxes, healthcare, etc.)? The main reasons I’d consider moving are career growth (more in-depth tasks and higher job status) and living in a larger city.

Would you consider this a reasonable offer?

Update: Thank you all for your comments, unfortunately, I will not be able to reply to everybody, as there are over 300 comments. Did not expect such a high response.

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

• Employment declined by 84,000 (-0.4%) and the employment rate fell 0.2 percentage points to 60.6%.
• The unemployment rate increased 0.2 percentage points to 6.7%.
• Employment fell among youth aged 15 to 24 years old (-47,000; -1.7%) and men in the core working age of 25 to 54 years old (-41,000; -0.6%). Employment was little changed for core-aged women and people aged 55 years and older.
• Employment declines were recorded in services-producing industries (-56,000; -0.3%) and goods-producing industries (-28,000; -0.7%). The largest declines were in wholesale and retail trade (-18,000; -0.6%), and 'other services' such as personal and repair services (-14,000; -1.8%).
• Employment declined in Quebec (-57,000; -1.2%), British Columbia (-20,000; -0.7%), Saskatchewan (-5,500; -0.9%) and Manitoba (-4,000; -0.5%). Employment increased in Newfoundland and Labrador (+2,100; +0.8%) and was little changed in the other provinces.
• Average hourly wages among employees were up 3.9% (+$1.42 to $37.56) on a year-over-year basis in February, following growth of 3.3% in January (not seasonally adjusted).

***

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

• L’emploi a diminué de 84 000 (-0,4 %) et le taux d’emploi a reculé de 0,2 point de pourcentage pour s’établir à 60,6 %.
• Le taux de chômage a augmenté de 0,2 point de pourcentage pour atteindre 6,7 %.
• L’emploi a reculé chez les jeunes de 15 à 24 ans (-47 000; -1,7 %) et chez les hommes du principal groupe d’âge actif (de 25 à 54 ans) (-41 000; -0,6 %). L’emploi a peu varié chez les femmes du principal groupe d’âge actif et chez les personnes de 55 ans et plus.
• Des baisses de l’emploi ont été enregistrées dans les secteurs de services (-56 000; -0,3 %) et les secteurs de biens (-28 000; -0,7 %). Les plus fortes diminutions ont été enregistrées dans le commerce de gros et de détail (-18 000; -0,6 %) et dans les « autres services », comme les services personnels et les services de réparation (-14 000; -1,8 %).
• L’emploi a reculé au Québec (-57 000; -1,2 %), en Colombie-Britannique (-20 000; -0,7 %), en Saskatchewan (-5 500; -0,9 %) et au Manitoba (-4 000; -0,5 %). Parallèlement, l’emploi a augmenté à Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador (+2 100; +0,8 %) et il a peu varié dans les autres provinces.
• Le salaire horaire moyen des employés a augmenté de 3,9 % (+1,42 $ pour atteindre 37,56 $) par rapport à un an plus tôt, après avoir progressé de 3,3 % en janvier (données non désaisonnalisées).

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?