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Thread: Salaries - millennials compared to Baby Boomers

  1. #1
    CaLoonie
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    Hi everyone. I have a few questions for you. I have been looking into salaries/ cost of living ect. for what baby boomers and millennials get.

    I was just wonder if anyone else of the age of 35 or less is finding that the cost of living is going up. But we are making the same as what baby boomers made 20 years ago or less in some cases with much less benefits.


    I live on PEI and cost of living is going up alot. Housing has over double in the last 10 years(Slowing now), Food cost gone up, Everything is up, However if you find your doing the same job as person X who is a baby boomer and has been around for say 10 years and make 60,000 k a year but started out at 40,000 10 years ago. Seems like now if they hire a millennials that person gets paid less and would start out at like 30,000K a year for the same job. Less then what the Baby boomer even started at.

    I seen an article stating back in 1976 I believe the average couple income was like 65K or so. PEI Just got over that amount back in 2007 according to stats canada. That being said I dont know to many couples who make that much money. I think its really rare on PEI. And the sad thing is I work 3 jobs. 1 full time. 2 part time ones and I still make less then most baby boomers and I work in IT which pays I guess decent.
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    Junior Canuck
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    I think your seeing a cost of living catch up... avoid the West Coast unless you want to be paid mountains and water....

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    Smart Canuck beckie.c's Avatar
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    I would be really interested in reading a full blown research study on this topic. It is an interesting question to bring up.

    Quote Originally Posted by hirev View Post
    I was just wonder if anyone else of the age of 35 or less is finding that the cost of living is going up. But we are making the same as what baby boomers made 20 years ago or less in some cases with much less benefits.
    For me, this statement doesn't hold true. DH (30) and I (24) currently have an income well above the average household income (about 1.5x). I have a B.B.A, and DH is a plumber. While DH doesn't have a very great benefits package, I have one that I would consider on par with baby boomers (expect for my DC pension, where boomers were typically DB). I would say with ease, that I have considerably more in terms of assets and disposable income than my parents had at the same ages. However, I would also say that I graduated with a considerably larger student debt burden.

    Things are probably quite different across provinces as well. In Saskatchewan, we have been experiencing economic prosperity for the last few years and I think that adds to the quality of life significantly. We also happen to be a dual income family with no kids.

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    Canadian Guru
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    Yeah the salaries have definitely not kept up with the inflation.

    and its mostly due to real estate inflation, the cost of houses and affordable rent or ownership is the main reason...rest is pretty much the same for us and baby boomers.

    also benefits are also greatly reduced, not only company benefits but gov benefits too. Lot of things that were covered by our free healthcare and other gov benefits are no longer covered.

    almost every year they seem to remove or reduce some previously covered service or benefits.

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    mandolinatou
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    Yes! I think that society is keeping their costs down on our backs. I work in an agency that in good years of the 1990s saw 5% annual increases. So boomers who are at their max salary in my agency earn roughly 68,000. They start young people with a masters at 37,000 in my agency..boomers where I work all have BAs only. Now we've had salary freezes the last few years. If you were at or near the max this is not so bad. If you are under 35 and trying to buy a home or start a family it's horrible. We are better educated than the boomers but get paid a lot less. Its roughly half the salary for the same job and honestly the young people bring more energy and as a result do more work and bring in more clients. While experience has its benefits in terms of efficiency/knowledge. After a few years on the job in my agency the details are learned to a degree that people are mostly even in terms of technical aspects of the job. This being said, boomers in my agency unwilling to keep up with the computers are let go at my agency and they probably won't find another job with equivalent pay. I am very lucky in terms of benefits though...can't complain about that personally. They've been making changes this year to exclude younger staff on contract from pension plans and insurance though. I think the younger people need to organize and demand equal pay for equal work....in this society we are always putting someone down...if not by race, then class, if not class then age, if not age then citizenship. It's gotta stop.
    Last edited by mandolinatou; Wed, Oct 22nd, 2014 at 08:53 PM. Reason: misspelling

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    Mastermind Shwa Girl's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by hirev View Post
    Everything is up, However if you find your doing the same job as person X who is a baby boomer and has been around for say 10 years and make 60,000 k a year but started out at 40,000 10 years ago. Seems like now if they hire a millennials that person gets paid less and would start out at like 30,000K a year for the same job. Less then what the Baby boomer even started at.
    OP. A couple of things missing from your thread (thanks for this thread, by the way)
    1. In the 1980s, Ontario teacher graduates could not find a job in this province. They had to go to a western province and then came back when Ontario had jobs.
    2. In the 1990s some health care workers had to go to the USA to find a job. There were no jobs in Ontario. Some have come back to Ontario recently.


    What you are seeing in PEI for IT is the cycle that has happened to
    teachers
    health care workers
    in other provinces


    Did you notice that in both examples above, they had to move to get a better paying job and that
    they came back when the jobs were in their home province?



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    Smart Canuck
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    I am gen X. My three siblings are boomers. Six of their children are millenials.

    In my family and my surroundings, your statement doesn't hold true.

    One of my siblings retired 2 years ago. The other two still work full time. I earn more they do, and more than the retired sibling earned. I have a higher education level than my siblings. My two sisters have spouses (also boomers) that earn more than I do, but one has his own accounting firm.

    Of my six nieces and nephews who are millenials:
    - 3 of my nephews (ages 29, 28 and 24) earn as much as I do (i.e. more than their boomer parents do today). Have benefits and pension plans comparable to me. One of those nephews did not complete his high school education. His wife earns less than he does, but still makes a very good salary. They have just purchased a new house (their second new home in 4 years) that is twice the size of my house. They are expecting their second child. The partners of the other two nephews earn less. These three newphews live in Ottawa, the same part of the city as I do, so their cost of living is comparable to mine.
    - one niece is 30. She lives in Calgary. She is earning quite a lot more than I did at age 30, has better benefits than I did, and a better pension plan. She also has less education than I do.
    - one newphew just graduated from a 4 year college degree program this summer. He is 25. He lives in Toronto. He has a full time job, and he is earning the same amount that I was earning at age 38.
    - the other niece is finishing her BA this year and wants to pursue a Master's.

    The millenials in my family earn far more than their parents did at the same age. They also have more than their parents did at their ages. They have nicer houses, all new furniture, nice new cars, lots of shiny toys. Heck, they have more than I have now, and I am 43. That said, the only debt dh and I have is our mortgage. I know that is not the case for several of my nephews. Most of my nieces and nephews have also had a portion or all of their post secondary education costs paid by their parents. Dh and I have been paying half of his daughter's university costs (she is in third year) so that she will not be in debt when she is done. My parents didn't pay for my post-secondary education. I did that completely on my own.
    strew, Shwa Girl and beckie.c like this.

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    momof5boys
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    Two of our sons are in trades - making more than my hubby does, but I'm glad we don't have to pay their payroll taxes

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    Junior Canuck
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    Patience... many of those in high paying positions, especially in technology, will be vacated by MASS retirement in the coming years. This is great opportunity for young workers.

    One reason why older workers are not taking early retirement... cost of living. Many have little saved up for retirement and must work longer, especially when their savings must last longer than 7 years.... possibly until they are 100.

    Freedom 90???

    With the question of whether there should be salary increases....
    • how much of an increase is reasonable?
    • who pays for the increase? Do you support higher prices for goods and services?
    • in BC minimum wage is currently $10.25. Unions would like to see it raised to $13. However, should it match the neighbor's Seattle minimum wage $17 an hour ($15 US)?


    There's also external inflation forces... Should salary increases also keep up with these external issues?
    • the Canadian dollar falling
    • government rebates are going away
    • weather has decimated California crops. Meat prices have gone up.
    Last edited by xlxo; Thu, Oct 23rd, 2014 at 11:02 PM.

  10. #10
    CaNewbie Dan in Canada's Avatar
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    It seems like salaries have gone up but not as much as major expenses - especially housing. Aside from 2008 housing seems to have increased substantially in the past decade which increases monthly mortgage costs (or rent) for everyone. It isn't directly related to salaries but assuming salaries stay the same and housing costs go up, quality of life goes down.
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    Canadian Guru Midnightly's Avatar
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    i do find the jobs are also different for boomers then what they are for millennials... there is less pension plans being offered, there is less apprenticeships being offered, boomers would work the same job for 20+yrs where millennials on average have more jobs in their lifetime then boomers
    When life hands you Edward Cullen...throw him back and demand Eric Northman....

  12. #12
    CaToonie
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    The jobs are so different today. I can't imagine it is easy for millennials.

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    Junior Canuck
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    Very true... 20yrs ago... technology skills were high demand with Y2K. Today... blue collar trades are higher demand.

    Depressing to believe salaries today are 25% lower with the falling dollar in the last 12 months.

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    CaNewbie
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    MM well I'm 34, and my Parents are in the early 60's and would classify as the Baby boomers. My husband and I have approximately the same household income as my parents currently have. We live in Calgary. I have a college degree, my husband does not have highschool diploma. My father has a degree/Mother just finished high school. However my parents at my age where supporting a family of 5. We are just making ends meet to support are family of 3. I personally find Calgary as extremely expensive Grocery and Transit prices espeacilly related to quality of what we get. And I have lived in other countries and cities that are known to be the most expensive in the world and Calgary's prices are higher. As for the rest I really do not think income matches with what cost of living here is, far to low, but I do not agree with increasing minium wage either.

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    What nobody has mentioned so far is that most occupations e.g. Accounting, Engineering (the professional kind), medicine, pharmacy, law, all the sciences, business (economics and the like) have maintained and will continue to be well paying jobs. Problem today is that most Millennials are doing none marketable degrees just for the sake of going away to university to socialize.

    If you study just Arts, History, Aesthetics, Music...you can hardly expect to be rolling in dough when you finish after 4yrs. It only makes sense that those students that put in a lot of effort, reap the rewards in the end.

    Yes not everyone is going to go off to university and do a valuable degree, and some kids don't even want to go in the first place. This leaves Trades as an option, but there isn't always work and when you aren't working or you are injured, you don't get paid. Vacation is also at your own time if you run your own business
    strew likes this.

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