Introduction
Statement of the Problem
In the recent decades, the number of young Canadians living at parental home has risen dramatically. A disturbing statistics provided by governmental services proves that in the current decade a much higher number of individuals in their twenties live with their parents; the percentage is also more than 1.5 times higher than in was twenty years ago.
Apart from the bare statistical data, it is necessary to study the reasons, for which young Canadians prefer (or have to) live with their parents. The search of the possible reasons should cover the problems that young people usually face: employment, receiving education, housing prices, etc.
Terms
Before starting the research work, it is necessary to give clear definitions to the primary terms that will be used in this research.
By “young Canadians,” this research understands young adults, i.e. Canadian citizens aged from 18 to 31. This research does not take into consideration any differences inside of the study group, such as gender, sexuality, race, etc., concentrating mainly on general tendencies among the chosen age group. As for income-based criteria, the research is concentrated on the Canadian middle class. So, the terms “young Canadians” and “young adults” are used in the same meaning.
By “Millennials,” the research means the generation of people born in the period from the beginning of the 1980-s to the early 2000-s.
When referring to a young adult, who is “living at home with their parents,” “living at parental home,” “stays with parents,” the research means that the mentioned adult is a child or a stepchild of the owner of the house, no matter is it a mother of a father. The research does not make a difference between young adults, who have a single parent, and those, who have two parents.
In case if a married couple is living with the parents of one spouse, only this spouse is said to be living with parents, while the other one is not. By “separated from their parents,” “living separately from parents,” the research means Canadian citizens, who live in their own home, a rented house, or a house that belongs to people, who are not their parents.
By “married couple,” the research understands either an opposite-sex or a same-sex couple of Canadian citizens, who have registered their marriage.
Methodology
In this research, the living arrangements of Canadian young adults are considered a dependent variable, while social and economic factors are an independent variable. To study the relations between the variables, the author studied statistical data related to the living arrangements, unemployment rates, employment conditions, college enrollment and graduation, and family status of the young Canadian citizens.
To examine the nature of the relationship between the variables, the author of the research used deductive approach, elaborating a hypothesis, which was based on an already existing theory. The statistical data was compared to the conclusions of the existing theory in order to confirm or reject this theory. As a source of statistical data, the author used the information provided by Statistics Canada, a governmental agency that is responsible for collecting statistical data related to the activities and conditions of the population of Canada and publishing this data.
Antithesis
It is often considered that contemporary young Canadians are much less hard-working, committed, and successful people that their parents were in their young years. They less often own houses, cannot pay for their college education, and are financially dependent on their parents, for which reasons they continue living with parents, no longer being kids. These facts allow to call them a lazy, Internet-addicted generation.
Thesis
However, facts speak in contradiction to the above-mentioned statement. Statistics proves that the reason why young Canadians have financial difficulties, which make them live longer with their parents, are the following. First, they have more problems with unemployment and unsatisfactory employment conditions than their parents had. Second, college education covers more young people, takes longer and is more expensive nowadays. Third, marriage is at a decline. Fourth, household expenses and prices are much higher compared to the average income.
Problems with employment
Today, the rate of unemployment is high among young Canadians. Additionally, they are affected by the decrease of wage more than elder Canadians. The other employment conditions, including pension, labor union membership, unpaid overworking, job permanency are much worse for young people today than they were three decades ago.
College Enrollment and Tuition
In today’s Canada, there are more young students than in previous decades, and they earn postsecondary diplomas more often. Because of that, young Canadians have less time for work. Additionally, the cost of college tuition has increased, which either makes students unable to pay without help or makes them take loans. It leads to financial instability and dependence on parental help.
Marriage Decline
The crisis of marriage is evidenced by statistics: today, a lower number of young Canadians live in a couple that in previous times. It entails the lower ability to afford a house. According to statistical data, unmarried Canadians are more likely to live with their parents.
Housing Expenses
Young Canadians have to devote a much higher part of their income to household expenses that their parents did at their age. They are also less likely to buy a house due to the rise of prices. It makes it preferable to continue living with parents.
Literature Review
For conducting the present research, the following literature was used.
“Why Canadian Homes Are More Unaffordable Than Ever” by Rob Carrick, a specialist in personal finance, where he explains the trends in housing prices and their relation to the changes in income. Carrick states that for contemporary young Canadians, buying a house is much more difficult than it was for young people in previous decades.
Bill Curry, a parliamentary reporter, examines the tendencies in the contemporary Canadian family and compares them to the previous times in his article “Canadian Families Shrinking, Married Couples in Decline: Census,” using the materials of the 2011 census.
“What Has Changed for Young People in Canada,” an article published by Statistics Canada (StatCan), is written by Diane Galarneau, a senior analyst, Jeannine Usalcas, an analyst of the Labor Statistics Division, and Rene Morisette, Assistant Director of the Social Analysis Division of StatCan. he authors study the tendencies in employment and education of young people in Canada, using the materials of Labor Force Survey, National Household Survey, Statistics Canada Demosim projections, and census.
“Living Arrangements Of Young Adults Aged 20 to 29 – Census” is prepared by StatCan and presents the figures related to the living arrangements (living with or separately from parents) of Canadians from 20 to 29.
“Study: Changing Labour Market Conditions for Young Canadians” and “Study: Wages, Youth Employment and School Enrollment, 2001 to 2008,” two studies, conducted by StatCan, explores current trends in employment conditions for young Canadians and compare the data to the situation over the past few decades, using the materials of Labor Force Survey, Survey of Work History, Survey of Union Membership, Census of Population, National Household Survey, Survey of Labor and Income Dynamics, and Labor Market Activity Survey.
Significance of the Study
Studying the living arrangement of the young Canadians is significant for the future planning of the governmental property. To know how to arrange transport system, where to build new schools and kindergartens, what areas will need more housing, it is important for the federal, provincial, and municipal governments to know where young Canadians are living or planning to live. To work out tendencies, make predictions, and know how to change these figures, it is highly necessary to state the reasons, for which young Canadians are living with their parents for a longer period of time that they did in the previous decades.
Body
Background of the Study
Nowadays, a rising share of young Canadians is living at their parent’s home. According to the 2011 Census of Population, 42.3% of young adults were living with their parents, compared to 32.1% in 1991 and 26.9% in 1981. The rise of the number of young adults living with their parents affected both people in their early and late twenties, which is a disturbing statistics. Among Canadians aged from 20 to 24, around 60% resided with parents, which is significantly higher than in 1981 (41.5%). One in four Canadians aged 25 to 29 lived at parental home in 2011, while in 1981 the share was 11.3%1.
Presentation and Analysis of Data
After studying the statistical and analytical data, it became clear that the primary reasons for the fact that young Canadians are living longer with their parents are the following. First, today young Canadians are much more likely to be unemployed or partially employed and are in worse employment conditions than their parents are now or in their young years; they also earn less.
Second, a higher number of young people are studying, and their studies take longer than those of their parents. It entails such problems as tuition expenses, student debt and the lack of time for working. Third, marriage has been in a decline lately; fewer young Canadians choose to live in a couple. Finally, household expenses have become much higher over the last decade.
Young Canadians have much lower opportunity to acquire a house than their parents had at the same age. For the mentioned reasons, young Canadians prefer living with their parents, as well as they become boomerang kids; the term applies to the young people that separated from their parents but had to return due to financial instability.
Growing Unemployment and Wage Decrease
The increase of the level of unemployment among young Canadians is one of the primary reasons for their living with parents.
In the period from 1981 to 2012, the number of employed people under 25 dropped, with the exclusion of the oil-producing provinces of Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador and Alberta. Full-time employment figures went down significantly in the 1980s and 1990s. In the 2000s, the situation slightly improved, but in was not enough to make up for the previous decline2.
The rate of the employment of young adults is constantly decreasing. In 2008-2009, the level of unemployment of Canadians from 15 to 24 years old went from 11.6% to 15.2%. Among 25 to 34-year-old individuals, the figures were 5.6% and 7.9%, respectively. A slight downturn to 7.9% in 2012 did not bring much improvement. Generally, the elder generation (parents) has higher employment rates3. The other reason for young Canadians to stay with their parents is the decline in wage. The decrease started in the 1980s and affected mostly young workers. In 2012, a young worker had a lower real wage than in 19814.
Apart from that, the other conditions of employment, such as labor union membership, pension coverage, involuntary part-time work and job permanency are also worse for the contemporary young Canadians than they were in the 1980-s5.
These problems create a situation when young Canadians become less financially stable than their parents, which makes them seek parents’ help, including the living arrangement.
Increasing College Enrollment
Another factor making young Canadians prefer living with their parents is the growing college enrollment.
An upward trend in college enrollment is obvious. While in 1990 84% of females and 79% of males received a high school diploma, in 2012 the percentages were 93% of females and 89% of males. As for postsecondary education, 68% of young Canadians received such a diploma in 2012, compared to 43% in 1981. Additionally, there were more full-time students in 2012 than in 1981: the figures are 58% and 39%, respectively6.
These figures mean that nowadays there are more young students than before, and they study for a longer time, which has the following consequences. First, studying at college has a dramatic effect on the financial stability of young people due to the cost of education. Second, students are more likely to be unemployed or partially employed since they have to devote primary attention to their studies. A lot of young people with high education start their career at around 31 years old, compared to 25 years old in 19767. Moreover, student debt is another reason for young Canadians to live with their parents because of financial instability.
Crisis of Marriage
To add one more reason for young Canadians to stay at their parents’, marriage is being through a crisis nowadays. In 2011, Census recognized a decades-long decline in Canadian marriage. A 2011 Census report on population recorded that the share of married couples had decreased over time. The amount of young Millennials staying in married couples has fallen, while the number of those living with their parents has risen. In 2012, only a quarter of young people were married, compared to 30% in 2007. According to Statistics Canada, only 3 in 10 Canadians in their twenties were living in a couple, compared to a half of young adult population in 1981. The decline affected both late and early twenties groups8.
Today, unmarried young Canadians are more likely to live with their parents than their married counterparts: the figures are 47% and 3%, respectively. Being unmarried makes young Canadians less able to afford to live separately from their parents.
House Prices and Rent
One more financial reason for young Canadians to live longer with their parents is the rise of housing prices and rents. In 1997, houses were far more affordable: an average house price was around 4.9 times an annual income for a fully employed Canadian. In 2013, the number is 7.8 pretax annual income.
Moreover, incomes and housing prices change at a different rate: while incomes have been growing by 2.6% annually for the past 17 years, house prices have risen in more than two times for the same time period, which happened because of the global financial crisis. The prices are expected to grow even more due to inflation.
Mortgage is also a problem. As Rob Carrick explains, for a person to be qualified for a mortgage, the total of their mortgage with the added heating expenses and property tax must not exceed 32% of their gross household income.
To calculate, if property taxes would be $4,000 and heating would be $1,800, and we increase them by 2.5% each year during the following ten years, the outcome will be that to have an average house in Canada, a person must spend $124,775 while nowadays it is $89,7139. Therefore, houses are going to be even less affordable than they are now.
It means that for modern young Canadians, having a separate house or renting one is less affordable than it was for their parents when they were young, and the situation is expected to become even worse.
Conclusion
The purpose of the report was to study the reasons, for which young people in Canada tend to live longer with their parents.
In the course of the research, the author gave definitions to the following terms: young Canadians, young adults, Millennials, living at home with their parents (living at parental home, stays with parents), separated from parents (living separately from parents), and a married couple.
The author of the research adopted the living arrangements of young Canadians as a dependent variable and social and economic factors as an independent variable. The analysis of statistical data was performed to understand the relations between the variables and to check the accuracy of the existing theory.
According to the popular belief, young Canadians are less successful and hard-working that the elder generation since they often cannot separate from their parents. The findings of the research refute this statements. A thorough study of the statistical data supports the notion that young Canadians are in worse conditions than their parents were at their age. The reasons, for which they stay longer with their parents, can be divided into three groups: employment problems, college enrollment and tuition, marriage decline, and household expenses.
Modern young Canadians are more likely to face unemployment and partial employment than elder people; they are also more affected by wage decrease. More young people study in college nowadays, their studies take longer than in previous decades, and the tuition is much higher. Marriage is currently at a crisis in Canada. Unmarried Canadians often have to live with their parents since it is harder to afford a separate home for a single person. Finally, household expenses are much bigger nowadays than they were a couple of decades ago.
For this research, the governmental statistical data was used. The significance of the study is obvious since the government needs to plan the future development of infrastructure relying on the information about the living arrangement of the population.
Bibliography
Carrick, Rob. “Why Canadian Homes Are More Unaffordable Than Ever,” The Globe and Mail (Ottawa, Canada). Web.
Curry , Bill. “Canadian Families Shrinking, Married Couples in Decline: Census,” The Globe and Mail (Ottawa, Canada). Web.
Galarneau, Diane, Rene Morisette and Jeaninne Usalcas. “What Has Changed for Young People in Canada?” StatCan (Ottawa, Canada). Web.
“Living Arrangements Of Young Adults Aged 20 to 29 – Census,” StatCan (Ottawa, Canada), Web.
“Study: Changing Labour Market Conditions for Young Canadians,” The Daily (Ottawa, Canada). Web.
“Study: Wages, Youth Employment and School Enrollment, 2001 to 2008,” The Daily (Ottawa, Canada). Web.
Footnotes
- Bill Curry, “Canadian Families Shrinking, Married Couples in Decline: Census,” The Globe and Mail (Ottawa, Canada). Web.
- “Living Arrangements Of Young Adults Aged 20 to 29 – Census,” StatCan (Ottawa, Canada), Web.
- “Study: Wages, Youth Employment and School Enrollment, 2001 to 2008,” The Daily (Ottawa, Canada), Web.
- “Study: Wages, Youth Employment and School Enrollment, 2001 to 2008,” The Daily (Ottawa, Canada), Web.
- “Study: Changing Labour Market Conditions for Young Canadians,” The Daily (Ottawa, Canada), Web.
- Diane Galarneau, Rene Morisette and Jeaninne Usalcas, “What Has Changed for Young People in Canada?” StatCan (Ottawa, Canada), Web.
- Diane Galarneau, Rene Morisette and Jeaninne Usalcas, “What Has Changed for Young People in Canada?” StatCan (Ottawa, Canada), Web.
- “Living Arrangements Of Young Adults Aged 20 to 29 – Census,” StatCan (Ottawa, Canada), Web.
- Rob Carrick, “Why Canadian Homes Are More Unaffordable Than Ever,” The Globe and Mail (Ottawa, Canada), Web.