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On Tuesday, Bloomberg News reported that nearly one million Canadians applied for EI last week, which represents nearly five per cent of the workforce.

Canadians are also more stretched financially and are less able to handle unexpected expenses.

Less than half of households (41 per cent) say they can handle an unexpected expense of up to $1,000, down from 45 per cent in 2018. Thirty-six per cent of Canadians can manage an expense of more than $1,000, down from 41 per cent in 2018.

Twenty-three per cent say they can’t handle any unexpected expenses because they are already too stretched as it is. That’s up from 14 per cent in 2018.

And even if things haven’t all gone south for Canadians just yet, they are extremely worried about it happening.

Five per cent of households have already been late making their rent or mortgage payment and 30 per cent of households are worried about it happening.

Photo by Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press

The demographic hardest hit is young people aged 18 to 24 years old. In that age group 45 per cent have lost hours or been laid off; no other age group is higher than 30 per cent.

Across the country, Alberta is the hardest hit province with 50 per cent of households experiencing some kind of work loss, while only 32 per cent of Manitoban households have experienced a layoff or lost hours.

Across income levels, the numbers stay mostly the same. About 44 per cent of households making under $25,000 per year have experienced some type of job loss, which is the same as households making between $100,000 to $149,000 per year. Hardest hit are households making between $25,000 and $49,000 per year, where 48 per cent have experienced some type of job loss.

One note of optimism among people who have lost work: 48 per cent of them are certain that it’s “just a matter of time” before work resumes. Thirty-five are “pretty sure” that will be the case, 13 per cent are doubtful and only four per cent think their job is gone forever.

The Angus Reid Institute poll was an online survey among 1,664 Canadians from March 20 to 23 and carries a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

• Email: sxthomson@postmedia.com | Twitter: stuartxthomson