A new survey find that roughly four in 10 Canadians plan to spend less this year on the holidays than they did last year as fears about a possible recession take hold.
The Nanos Research survey found that 43 per cent of Canadians say they plan to spend less this holiday season than they did last year.
Some 46 per cent said they planned to spend about the same, while 10 just per cent said they plan to spend more.
At the same time, the survey found that 42 per cent of Canadians think it's likely Canada will have a recession in 2023 while 44 per cent believe it is somewhat likely.
“It’s clear to see that the vast majority of Canadians are buckling up for a recession in 2023,” Nanos Research President Nik Nanos told CP24 in an interview. “They might feel okay today, but when they're looking at the next year, a very high likelihood — as you saw 86 per cent — (are) either likely or somewhat likely to say that we're going to go into some sort of recession. Maybe we can hope that it's a mild recession and it's not a deep recession, but buckling up for a rough 2023.”
The survey found younger Canadians (those 18 to 34) are more likely to spend more than older Canadians (those 55 and up).
In terms of gatherings, half of Canadians say they plan to socialize about the same amount with friends and family this year as they did before the pandemic, while 26 per cent said they would socialize less and 23 per cent said they would socialize more.
Younger Canadians appear to be more likely to attend gatherings.
Nearly 32 per cent of those in the 18-34 category said they plan to socialize more, while those 55 and up were the least likely (17.8 per cent) to say that they plan to socialize more.
The survey reached out to a random sample of 1025 Canadians by phone and online from Nov. 27-29. It is considered accurate to within 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
