Is Canada in a Recession?

Canadian Jobs | BCBusiness
Canadians are growing more worried about the state of the economy, with a new poll showing the majority feels the country is already in a recession.

According to a new poll, Canadians are quickly losing faith in the economy – but no one has an answer to ease our worries.

Are we in a recession? The majority of Canadians seem to think so.

A December survey from Pollara reports 63 per cent of Canadians believe the country is already in a mild recession, and another 7 per cent believe we’re in a severe recession.

The glass-half-empty thinking only continues. Almost half (40 per cent) of those polled think the economy will maintain the status quo, whereas an additional 27 per cent worry the economy will get worse.

Pollara chairman Michael Marzolini seemed just as concerned as the 2,878 Canadians surveyed. He commented that the results “are the most pessimistic in 16 years across all the indicators that we have been testing since 1985.”

What’s more worrisome is this type of thinking can become a self-fulfilling prophecy – attitudes drive behaviour, which could mean consumers could spend and invest less out of fear the economy could soon tank.

These worries are compounded when you add economists’ prediction the economy will slow down to less than 2 per cent in growth this year. And here’s the kicker – economists don’t have high hopes for significant job growth either.

Maybe it’s realism rather than pessimism that’s taking over the Canadian psyche. A recession is when an economy has two consecutive quarters of shrinkage, so 2 per cent growth is better than nothing. At least we’re still moving in the right direction.