Retirement a distant dream for many Canadians

[IliketoPuck]

Originally Posted by Dentoman

Why wouldn't I take my CPP .... I paid into it. Being self-employed, I actually pay double. OAS I will not get.



If you don't have a job and can't make ends meet, you take any job you can. This whole "I'm overqualified for that job" schtick is a load of crap.

You absolutely should be entitled to your CPP. It isn't your fault that the system is flawed and will result in my generation getting the short end of the stick.

If you absolutely need to put food on the table, then yes I agree suck up your pride and get something. But if you are trying to utilize your skills and education to the fullest extent, there absolutely is such a thing as being over qualified for a position.

[tripin_billie]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Quality work requires a masters? The trades are quality work but none of you want to work a job that requires getting off a desk chair. Repaying large student loans is something only Gen Y had to deal with? See what I mean. You guys don't have a grip on reality.

Yes, to get full benefits and retirement plans, often it requires working in the corporate setting, and not in the trades. I thought I was the out-of-touch one...

[blankall]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

It depends on how you look at it. When I was young (mid/late 80's) I was happy to stack lumber, shovel rocks, dig trenches, etc for 8-12 hours a day for $6-10/hr. Now we have young kids that scoff at $15-18/hr for simple stuff like warehouse work or shipping/receiving. The ones that do accept the job spend half the day texting on their cell phone. If you can get 4hrs of work out of some of these kids in an 8hr shift you have a keeper lol. I have a very hard time not placing Gen Y as the most self-entitled generation of all-time.

I really don't think it's quite that simple. Very few jobs these days start off at $15-18/hr. Also, the cost of living/education compared to wages has gone through the roof. The price of simple staples such as basic food items and rent has increased several fold.

When I graduated with a biology degree, many employers expected me to work for.....free. And the sad part was there were people lining up to do it just so they could put it on a resume. That's how bleak job prospects for university grads are these days. This was biology, which in many ways is actually considered to be an applied science in many ways as you get direct experience with lab work, field work, etc... I can't imagine the job prospects for arts graduates.

I honestly just don't buy that there are this suprlus of $15+ dollar an hour jobs that people are turning down.

It's also been shown that generation Y is expected to work longer hours than any generation in recent history. Not to mention you've now got the reality of the two income household where both male and female are expected to work full time. Many baby boomers who worked high paying jobs with long hours had the advantage of having a spouse who took care of cleaning and cooking. Now..not so much.


http://blogs.wsj.com/juggle/2011/07/...eek-part-time/

The report, which examined two sets of government data, found that a growing number of professionals and managers work 50 hours or more. Nearly 38% of men with professional and managerial positions worked over 50 hours a week between 2006 and 2008, up from about 34% from 1977 to 1979. The number of professional women working longer hours has also increased dramatically, to 14.4% from 6.1% about 30 years earlier.

I also think the view of workers and capital has changed. Historically a worker in a business could work and save and eventually open their own business. Now the cost of capital is so ridiculous that people are forced to live pay check to pay check. No matter how much a person making $15.00/hr saves, they are not going to be able to afford the ridiculous capital costs involved with entering the market.

A person's only hope is to be really lucky or become a certified tradeperson or professional.

[Dentoman]

Originally Posted by IliketoPuck

You absolutely should be entitled to your CPP. It isn't your fault that the system is flawed and will result in my generation getting the short end of the stick.

If you absolutely need to put food on the table, then yes I agree suck up your pride and get something. But if you are trying to utilize your skills and education to the fullest extent, there absolutely is such a thing as being over qualified for a position.

WRT CPP, in my time in the work force, the max CPP contribution has gone from $850 to $2200 .... trust me, your generation will get CPP, you and your employer will just have to pay for it (although I thought I read somewhere that CPP was now sustainable, if that is the case ..... you're welcome )

[Dentoman]

Originally Posted by tripin_billie

Yes, to get full benefits and retirement plans, often it requires working in the corporate setting, and not in the trades. I thought I was the out-of-touch one...

But if you're not working because you can't find this job and are holding out for it .... maybe consider taking some other work if you have bills to pay ... that is what EE is trying to say.

[tripin_billie]

With the price of real estate where it is now too, I'm not even sure what I'm saving for. My wife and I will have out loans paid off 2 years from now (her law school wasn't cheap), but after the loans are paid off, I'm looking at trying to save around $100,000 to $200,000 to have a respectable down payment so that I can eliminate the mortgage as fast as possible. Housing in DC is astronomically expensive, and pay premium isn't what it should be. Gen Y is going to be one of the most transient generations ever.

[tripin_billie]

Originally Posted by Dentoman

But if you're not working because you can't find this job and are holding out for it .... maybe consider taking some other work if you have bills to pay ... that is what EE is trying to say.

Oh, I can agree with that. I temped for almost 2 years after undergrad because I couldn't get anything better. Went back to school, now am happily fully employed.

When I temped, I worked 40 hours a week, in the same job the whole time, with no paid leave, sick leave, retirement matching, or health insurance. Yeah, labor laws are pretty weak south of the border.

[IliketoPuck]

It isn't so much thanking you as your generation is paying for what it will take out, which is completely fair.

I guess thank you for not completely draining my CPP is appropriate.

[Kybosh]

The overqualified thing goes both ways too. As an example, there are a lot of lab tech jobs out there but even if a physical science PhD would apply for those, there is no way in hell they would even get an interview. Ditto, if that PhD walked into a lumber yard and handed them their resume/CV.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Dentoman

WRT CPP, in my time in the work force, the max CPP contribution has gone from $850 to $2200 .... trust me, your generation will get CPP, you and your employer will just have to pay for it (although I thought I read somewhere that CPP was now sustainable, if that is the case ..... you're welcome )

CPP is now sustainable because those of just entering the workforce are paying enough to:

1) Fund our own benefits
2) Fund the benefits for those before use who undercontributed to their own benefits

If you were working before they made that change, you didn't cover the cost, and my generation is making it up.

As to the person upthread who was indignent about claiming his CPP. Sure you should claim it. Individually it's not your fault the system is screwed up. It's that generations collective fault. It would have been politically impossible to make the change when the baby boomers were in their prime earning years, before they started thinking about retirement. Once baby boomers started to retire, the contribution rates got jacked up so the young could pay for their indexed pensions.

[Dentoman]

Originally Posted by tripin_billie

Oh, I can agree with that. I temped for almost 2 years after undergrad because I couldn't get anything better. Went back to school, now am happily fully employed.

You would be surprised how many people won't.

[Tinordi]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I see. So high unemployment is something only Gen Y had to deal with.

No but it's something Gen Y folks have to deal with much more than you.

http://www.economist.com/node/21528614

[tripin_billie]

I think another thing that is really working against Gen Y is the licensing/ degreeing of skills. I have a Gen X brother that did not need an IT degree to get into his first IT job, just had to show he had the skills. In the early 90s, being able to write some basic html was enough to convince people you were a web developer. Now, even with coding skills, multiple languages known, etc. if you don't have the specific degree, no employer is going to look at you seriously. The age of being able to pick up tech skills and then use them to get jobs is gone.

Everything now has a degree or certificate, so Gen Y has to spend a lot of money to prove they can do what Gen X could simply demonstrate they could do.

[GP_Matt]

Originally Posted by blankall

I honestly just don't buy that there are this suprlus of $15+ dollar an hour jobs that people are turning down.

We are constantly posting labour jobs that start at $17 per hour. I have a hard time getting resumes and the interview is usually spent convincing people that they want the job.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Dentoman

But if you're not working because you can't find this job and are holding out for it .... maybe consider taking some other work if you have bills to pay ... that is what EE is trying to say.

There's a lot of young people today doing just that. My niece and nephew are working any job they can find. My nephew has a degree and is selling climbing gear in a store. My niece also has a degree and is working a low paying job with zero benefits. To say that youth of today are lazy is a mass over generalisation on EE's part.

[IliketoPuck]

Labour jobs are interesting to say the least, in my experience there were two types of people that worked them; lifers and kids looking for a summer job. Not exactly a recipe for a harmonious work experience. The old guys look at the young guys like they are irresponsible lazy kids, and the young guys look at the old guys like they settled for their career and are bitter about it.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by GP_Matt

We are constantly posting labour jobs that start at $17 per hour. I have a hard time getting resumes and the interview is usually spent convincing people that they want the job.

Money is not the number one priority for Gen Y, which is what other generations don't understand/get upset about.

If you're advertising a job that pays $17 per hour, has a title of labourer, and doesn't have good time off, you're doing it exactly wrong if you're looking for Gen Y help.

You'd be better off giving 4 weeks paid vacation and calling them construction technicians (construction labourer) or logistics assistants (warehouse labourer) with a base salary of $13 per hour.

That makes it a career with lifestyle flexibility instead of a job.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by GP_Matt

We are constantly posting labour jobs that start at $17 per hour. I have a hard time getting resumes and the interview is usually spent convincing people that they want the job.

I live in Vancouver. I suppose things are different here.

I think a major disadvantage with labour jobs is that they truly are futureless right now. $17.00/hr, which works out ot about $35,000.00. Really isn't that much money these days.

In addition, the trend for labour jobs is to see them outsourced and dissappear. In prior generations you could have made a career out of being a general labourer in a lumbar yard or a car factory. Forget it now.

As a young person, I wouldn't take a basic labour job unless I absolutely had to or I was likely to learn some skills to make me more marketable in the future (IE towards a specific trade or industry). Committing yourself to a job like that is basically commiting yourself to a developing world standard of living, because that is where all those jobs are going.

[GP_Matt]

There is definitely a career potential for anyone who can learn the job and we offer to pay their schooling if they want to get a tech diploma or degree to speed up the process.
The job title is Survey Assistant, but I guess no one wants to be the assistant.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by yads

My grandparents get by on OAS plus their very (and I mean very) modest pension from Russia. Sure they don't live extravagantly, but that 22K-27K quoted in the article is enough to have a modest lifestyle, but is hardly eating cat food. With an extra 33K/year you can do a lot. Add the fact that if you retire at 65 you likely only have 10-15 years before you really slow down. I mean are you really planning to be golfing everyday by the time you're 80?

I take issue with statements like you need 135% of your current income to retire, which is patently false and is not backed up by reality.

You're right, you don't NEED 135% but there is a disconnect that I probably didn't explain well enough. When people look towards retirement they think that 70% of their wage will be enough. That makes sense until they suddenly have an extra 8 hours a day to fill....for a lot of people that time is filled with spending money one way or another.

I do agree that some people can make due on $25k per year, but these are not people who saved their whole lives. These are people who relied on the forced savings of CPP, etc. and for one reason or another didn't or weren't able to save more.