41% of Windsor households find it difficult to meet financial needs, StatsCan survey says

The unemployment rate is rising. Inflation is climbing.

No doubt many of you are feeling some of that when you look at your own bank accounts these days. 

A new report from Statistics Canada shows that people in Windsor are among the most concerned about this.

The labour force survey shows 41 per cent of Windsorites say they have difficulty meeting financial needs.

That puts Windsor second among 20 larger Canadian cities, just behind the Niagara Region.

According to the results, 26.7 per cent of Windsor households find it difficult to make ends meet, financially, while 14.3 per cent said it was very difficult to do so.

The report comes on the heels of high unemployment numbers released last week, leaving Windsor with the dubious distinction of once again having the country's highest jobless rate.

The city jumped to 7.1 per cent in October after being at 6 per cent in September.

Frazier Fathers is a researcher in Windsor who pays close attention to the numbers Statistics Canada releases — including this most recent labour force analysis.

He calls the special data set a "subjective measure" captured over the last month.

"It's not like a regular data point that they collect every month, like the unemployment rate or participation rate and stuff like that," said Fathers.

"It's a kind of a snapshot in time, one point in time of how do people … about their financial situation? You have some unemployed people in there. You have employed people in there."

Fathers says the information can serve as an indicator of how people are feeling in the fall and heading into the winter.

"There's lots of political talk about the cost of living and all of those things in there and the challenges that people are facing right now."

He says financial pressures are subjective and must be taken into account when analyzing numbers like this. 

"It could be a well-off family that maybe has overspent a little bit and now maybe has lost a job and is facing some challenges in making ends meet. Or it could be a low income household just scraping by and working two minimum wage jobs and trying to get by and pay rent and pay the heating bill and all that sort of stuff."

Compared to other areas of the country like Alberta or Atlantic Canada, Fathers says the survey provides an economic snapshot of how people are feeling the pinch of inflation and prices in southwestern Ontario — with cities like London and Kitchener-Waterloo also high on the list.

According to Fathers, despite a fairly robust economy in the region with construction and the EV battery plant, it shows it's not all good news in the Windsor area.

"There's this undercurrent of uncertainty and undercurrent of like 'I'm not quite sure,' and financially that may mean someone puts off making purchases, they maybe curtail a little bit of their spending as we go into the holiday season." 

Food bank unsurprised at Windsor's ranking

The president of the Windsor-Essex Food Bank Association says inflation, precarious work, housing costs and food inflation are behind the insecurity and high volume of people using their services.

June Muir says it is extremely difficult to make ends meet for people living by themselves or for families.

"Twenty per cent of people that we are seeing visiting our food bank are here because food inflation has hit all time records. They can't afford to purchase food."

From January to September, Muir says they've had 146,000 visits — ahead of their busiest time during the Christmas season — compared to 190,000 all of last year. 

She says eight per cent of the people showing up for food are employed and 30 per cent of their clients are new users.

"We don't have a lot of jobs in Windsor where people can work from home. The pandemic is over, people will say. But yet people are still trying to catch up. Small businesses are trying to catch up. People in general are really feeling it." 

Muir says people need affordable housing more than anything else and, unfortunately, she adds, food banks have become a necessity for far too many.

"We want to be here, but we can't be here for everyone. And it seems like food banks are getting hit hard."

Crystal Grace works at UHC Hub of Opportunities in Windsor as a chef training cook. 

She thinks the Statistics Canada survey reflects what she's seeing and dealing with on a daily basis when it comes to struggling to meet her financial needs.

"I'm a vegan … vegan food is more expensive," said Grace. "And post-COVID, especially since the last few years, prices have gone up. Even for bread. A lot of the bread I buy has to be vegan, can't have certain items in it, just different things." 

Grace says because of her dietary choices she has to buy a lot of supplements which can also be expensive.

"I supplement a lot, but anything from toilet paper, paper towel, even bottled water, everything has gone up in price."