Sep 24, 2021
Home Economics: Perfect time to ask for a raise; 5 steps to up your side hustle
BNN Bloomberg
Office vacancy rate hits highest level since 1994
Canada’s office vacancy rate hit 15.7 per cent in the third quarter, according to CBRE Group. That is the highest level since 1994. CBRE Group says the fourth wave of COVID-19 slowed an expected return to work, but leasing activity across four of the country’s 10 major markets is picking up, especially within the technology sector.
The global housing market is broken
Across the globe, soaring property prices are forcing people to abandon all hope of owning a home. This crisis is making politicians throw out all sorts of ideas – from rent caps, to special taxes on landlords to turning vacant offices into housing – in an attempt to come up with a solution, but nowhere is there any evidence of an easy or sustainable fix.
‘Life insurance isn’t necessarily for you’
Millie Gormely, a financial consultant and certified financial planner at IG Wealth Management in Thunder Bay, Ont, says there isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer for when young Canadians should buy life insurance, adding it all depends on circumstances. “Life insurance is more about whether or not you have anybody to protect or if there is a reason to protect your wealth in the long-term for estate purposes,” she says.
5 steps to level up your side hustle
“The pandemic isn’t crushing the entrepreneurial spirit, it’s fueling it,” Kelsey Sheehy of Nerdwallet writes. Many people used their time under strict COVID-19 lockdown to launch a side hustle and some of those side gigs turned into full-fledged businesses. Now, to help grow that even further, here are some “basic but essential steps” to give your new venture a shot at continued success.
Right now is perfect time to ask for raise
Recruiters and career coaches are calling right now a golden opportunity to ask for a pay bump. “It’s a fight for staff right now,” Allison Venditti, a career coach and founder of Moms at Work, says. “It’s wild out there.” According to Statistics Canada, there were a record 731,900 vacancies in the second quarter, accounting for a 25.8 per cent jump compared to two years earlier.
Tip Jar
"This is certainly a worker's market, this is the time you'd want to start searching." – Mikal Skuterud, a professor in the department of economics at the University of Waterloo