The Precarity
Mindset
Canadians have shifted from asking "Do I have enough?" to asking "Will I still be okay tomorrow?" This is the story of that shift — and what it means for everyone who leads.
65% of Canadians are focused on basic needs or safety. 6 in 10 wish they had been born in 1950. This is the Precarity Mindset.
Based on the research of Dr. David Coletto & Dr. Eddie Sheppard, Abacus Data
Canadians now exhibit a fundamentally changed mindset — the Precarity Mindset. It has profound implications for leadership in business, politics, and society.
In this analysis, we present the data and suggest what to do about it.
The Ground Has Shifted
From scarcity to precarity — a fundamental change in the mindset of most Canadians.
For most of the postwar period, Canada was a country of relatively stable expectations. People believed that if they worked hard, saved responsibly, and made reasonably good decisions, things would unfold along a path that felt predictable.
But when you layer a pandemic on top of a housing crisis, on top of inflation, on top of climate disasters, on top of technological disruption, on top of demographic strain, and then add a U.S. president openly threatening your country with tariffs and annexation fantasies, something shifts in the public psyche. It is not just stress. It is erosion.
This is the shift from a mindset focused on scarcity to one focused on precarity. Scarcity is about not having enough. Precarity is about not knowing whether the ground beneath you will hold. It is the difference between hunger and vertigo.
This isn't academic. It changes how people vote, how they spend, how they respond to their employers, and what they expect from leaders. It reshapes consumer behaviour, workplace dynamics, family decisions, and political outcomes. Understanding this shift is not optional for anyone in a position of leadership — it is the prerequisite for being heard at all.
"Scarcity asks whether you have enough today. Precarity asks whether you will still be on solid ground tomorrow."
— Abacus Data Research
The Mindset Shift
Scarcity Mindset
"Do I have enough?"
Precarity Mindset
"Will I still be okay?"
Core Question
Do I have enough today?
Core Question
Will I still be okay tomorrow?
Time Horizon
Present-focused
Time Horizon
Future-anxious, but can't plan ahead
Emotional State
Stress about insufficiency
Emotional State
Vigilance about instability
Decision Making
Prioritize immediate needs
Decision Making
Delay decisions, avoid risk
Trust in Systems
Systems may not serve me
Trust in Systems
Systems themselves may not hold
Response to Leaders
Want solutions and resources
Response to Leaders
Want reassurance and stability
What Does Precarity Mean for You?
The precarity mindset affects every domain differently. Select your role to see tailored insights.
What Precarity Means for Business Leaders
66% of your workforce is worried about stagnant wages — if you're not naming that reality, someone else is filling the silence.
Precarity shrinks planning horizons. Your employees are thinking in weeks, not years. Strategy decks mean nothing if people don't feel safe today.
The brands winning right now aren't the boldest — they're the steadiest. Value, consistency, and transparency are outperforming innovation and disruption.
Retention isn't about perks anymore. It's about predictability. People stay where they feel the ground is solid.
What the Numbers Reveal
Twenty years of public opinion research distilled into the statistics that define this moment.
of Canadians focused on basic needs or safety on Maslow's hierarchy
Abacus Data, 2026
Canadians say they would rather have been born in 1950 than today
Abacus Data, 2025
of Canadians want a leadership approach that is careful and measured.
Abacus Data, 2026
of Canadians have delayed major life decisions because the future feels uncertain
Abacus Data, 2025
Where Canadians Sit on Maslow's Hierarchy
Two-thirds of the country is focused on the bottom two levels — basic needs and safety. Hover to explore each level.
Do you know what the unmet needs are of your audience, customers, workers, or stakeholders?
The 2025 Canadian Federal Election: Competence Over Charisma
When Donald Trump returned to the White House threatening tariffs and annexation rhetoric, Canadians didn't want ideological fervour — they wanted stability. Mark Carney won not by being the most exciting candidate, but by being the most reassuring. He projected calmness, competence, and clarity at a moment when the country craved exactly those qualities.
Voters who prioritized 'steady leadership'
Voters who said competence mattered more than charisma
Canadians who felt the country was on the wrong track
From Crisis to Condition
The Psychological Drivers and Consequences of Canadian Uncertainty
What once felt like a rough stretch of headlines now feels, to many, like a lasting condition. Nearly nine in ten Canadians say uncertainty is no longer temporary. It's the new normal. That belief cuts across age groups, regions, and party lines.
The language people use tells its own story. When asked to describe the world, Canadians reach for words like uncertain, volatile, on the brink, and dangerous. These aren't policy critiques — they're emotional cues. Instability isn't just being observed from a distance. It's being internalized.
This is what the precarity mindset looks like in practice: not panic, not hysteria, but a shift in baseline assumptions. Stability no longer feels guaranteed, and risk feels closer to the surface.
Key Findings
of Canadians say instability and uncertainty are no longer temporary — they are the new normal
say the single greatest risk over the next four years is a more unpredictable United States
say they are less confident today than they were a year ago about what the future holds
have become more cautious with spending or major purchases
are worried that ongoing global conflict could directly affect Canada
say family and close relationships are their greatest source of stability
How Canadians Describe the World Today
Source: Abacus Data, January 2026 (n=1,850)
Where Canadians Find Stability
"When large systems feel unpredictable, stability becomes personal."
The Behavioural Response: Tightening, Not Panic
Chronic uncertainty rarely produces dramatic reactions. Instead, it produces tightening. When the broader environment feels unstable, people instinctively pull inward. They tighten spending, monitor information more closely, and concentrate on the parts of life they can influence.
More cautious with spending
Paying closer attention to news
Focusing on personal well-being
"Chronic uncertainty rarely produces dramatic reactions. Instead, it produces tightening. When large systems feel unpredictable, stability becomes personal."
— Eddie Sheppard, Abacus Data
The Anxious Workplace
Precarity has reshaped the Canadian workplace. Employees are not just worried about their current job, they are worried about whether the nature of work itself is shifting beneath them. AI, automation, rising costs, and perceived stagnant wages have created a workforce that is vigilant, cautious, and hungry for reassurance.
In our research, younger workers consistently said they were not asking for visionary change, they wanted leaders who could explain what AI meant for their job next year. The planning horizon has shrunk from five years to five months.
"If your staff is worried about layoffs, they do not want to hear about your five-year product roadmap."
— Abacus Data Research
Labour disputes in 2024-2025 — from Air Canada flight attendants to port workers to Canada Post employees — reflected not only economic arguments but deeper fears about fairness and the future. Trust broke down not over wages but over the feeling that nobody was telling the full story.
When 66% of workers worry about stagnant wages, leaders who name this reality openly — rather than avoiding it — build the trust that precarity erodes.
Top Workplace Concerns
Percentage of Canadian workers reporting significant concern
A Big Generational Divide
Precarity hits differently depending on when you were born. The gap isn't about ideology or worldview, it's about lived experience.
A twenty-eight-year-old renter in Toronto and a sixty-five-year-old homeowner in Fredericton are both anxious — but about fundamentally different things. The younger Canadian worries about whether they will ever own a home. The older Canadian worries about whether the health-care system will be there when they need it. Both are living in precarity, but their precarity has different textures.
Precarity by Generation
Select a metric to compare how different generations experience precarity. Data from Abacus Data, 2024.
Younger Canadians are far more likely to delay major life decisions. 82% of Gen Z report postponing milestones like homeownership, starting a family, or career changes because the future feels too uncertain.
The generational divide in precarity means a single leadership style won't work. What reassures a Boomer may feel patronizing to Gen Z. Leaders must calibrate.
"My parents bought their house at 30. I'll be lucky to rent a decent apartment at 30. When people tell me to be optimistic, it feels like they're not seeing the same world I'm seeing."
— University Student, 22, Vancouver
Precarity at Home
What uncertainty means for families, parents, and the next generation.
Precarity doesn't stop at the office door or the ballot box. It follows people home. For parents, it reshapes every conversation about the future — from career advice to life planning to the daily emotional temperature of the household. For the first time in generations, many parents genuinely don't know what to tell their children about what comes next.
Children Absorb What Adults Project
Precarity is contagious within families. When parents express chronic uncertainty — about jobs, housing, the future — children internalize that instability as their baseline. Research consistently shows that parental anxiety about economic security is one of the strongest predictors of anxiety in children.
The Advice Gap
For the first time in generations, parents genuinely don't know what to tell their kids about the future. The retired teacher in Ottawa captured it perfectly: 'I don't know what to tell them about the future because I'm not sure I understand it myself.' Traditional advice — get a degree, work hard, save money — feels insufficient when the systems those rules were built on feel unstable.
Delayed Milestones Cascade Through Families
When young adults delay homeownership, marriage, and children because the future feels uncertain, the effects ripple outward. Grandparents worry. Parents feel helpless. Family planning becomes family anxiety. 82% of Gen Z has delayed major life decisions — and their families feel every one of those delays.
Model the Loop at Home
The Reassurance Loop isn't just for boardrooms. Parents who name reality honestly ('Yes, things are uncertain right now'), explain what it means for their family ('Here's what we're doing about it'), and show the path ('Here's our plan for the next few months') give children something more valuable than false optimism: they give them a framework for navigating uncertainty.
Voices of Precarity
Real stories from Canadians across the country, collected through our surveys, focus groups, and in-depth interviews.
"I have a good job. I make decent money. But I can't buy a home, I can't plan a family, and I feel like I'm running on a treadmill that keeps speeding up. The system doesn't feel like it's working anymore."
Young Professional, 28
"Every quarter I'm making decisions based on what might happen, not what is happening. Tariffs, AI, supply chains make planning impossible. I used to plan five years out. Now I plan five weeks out. The uncertainty is exhausting."
Small Business Owner, 45
"We're told the system is fine, but we see it cracking every day. Patients wait longer, staff burn out faster, and nobody at the top seems to acknowledge what we're living through. We don't need slogans. We need honesty."
Healthcare Worker, 37
"My parents bought their house at 30. I'll be lucky to rent a decent apartment at 30. When people tell me to be optimistic, it feels like they're not seeing the same world I'm seeing."
University Student, 22
"I worry about my grandchildren in a way I never worried about my own kids. The world feels less predictable. I don't know what to tell them about the future because I'm not sure I understand it myself."
Retired Teacher, 64
"I have three income streams and none of them feel secure. My parents had one job for thirty years. I can't imagine what that feels like. Every month I wonder whether I can afford to stay."
Gig Worker, 31
The Precarity Consumer
How uncertainty rewrites the rules of consumer behaviour.
Precarity doesn't just change how people feel, it changes how they spend. When the future feels uncertain, consumers become more cautious, more deliberate, and more resistant to novelty. They trade down. They delay often choosing the familiar over the new.
For businesses, this means the old strategy of exciting people with innovation and aspiration may fall flat. In a precarity mindset, people don't want to be dazzled — they want to feel safe. Value becomes the language of trust.
The brands that succeed in this environment are the ones that understand reassurance is not just a marketing strategy. We think it's the emotional prerequisite for any purchase decision.
Precarity consumers don't want to be dazzled — they want to feel safe. The brands earning loyalty right now are the ones that lead with value and consistency.
Consumer Behaviour Shifts
Percentage of Canadians reporting these behavioural changes
Researching more before buying
Delaying major purchases
Prioritizing value over experience
Choosing familiar over novel
People don't need superheroes. They need lighthouses.
The Information Crisis
Precarity doesn't just change how people feel. It also changes how they consume information. When people are anxious, they become more susceptible to misinformation, more drawn to emotional content, and less able to distinguish reliable from unreliable sources.
When people feel precarious, their information-processing changes. Anxiety narrows attention, making people more reactive to emotional content and less able to evaluate sources critically. This isn't a character flaw — it's a neurological response to perceived threat.
Algorithmic feeds amplify this effect. Social media platforms are optimized for engagement, and anxious people engage most with content that confirms their fears. The result is a feedback loop: precarity makes people vulnerable to misinformation, and misinformation deepens precarity.
For leaders, this means that simply 'putting out good information' is not enough. You are competing against an entire ecosystem designed to capture attention through alarm. Cutting through requires not just accuracy, but emotional resonance and radical simplicity.
Canadians who say they've seen health misinformation online
Who say they find it hard to tell what's true
Who trust social media more than traditional media
Cutting Through the Noise: Strategies for Leaders
Lead with acknowledgment, not correction
Don't start by telling people what's wrong with their beliefs. Start by acknowledging why they believe what they believe. Precarity makes people defensive — validation opens the door to updated information.
Repeat the simple version relentlessly
In an information-saturated environment, the message that wins is the one people can remember and repeat. If your key message takes more than two sentences, it will lose to a meme.
Use trusted messengers, not just official channels
When institutional trust is low, the messenger matters more than the message. Peer-to-peer communication, local voices, and frontline workers are more credible than headquarters.
Create information rituals
Regular, predictable communication — weekly updates, monthly town halls, quarterly reviews — creates a rhythm that counteracts the chaos of algorithmic feeds. Predictability in communication is itself a form of reassurance.
"Good information travels by road. Bad information travels by jet."
— Abacus Data Research
In an information crisis, silence from leaders doesn't create calm — it creates a vacuum that misinformation fills. Regular, honest communication is a leadership obligation.
Leading in an Age of Precarity
People don't need superheroes. They need lighthouses.
Leadership in an age of precarity is not about being the loudest voice or the boldest visionary. It is not about dazzling people with big ideas or persuading them with promises of growth. Those things matter but only after something more basic has been delivered.
Precarity has reordered the human hierarchy of needs for leadership. And stability now sits at the base.
A leader who ignores this will fail, not because they are incompetent, but because they are speaking the wrong emotional language for the moment they are in.
"When people feel precarious, they do not look for heroes. They look for anchors."
— David Coletto, Founder of Abacus Data
The Emotional Sequence of Leadership
The Six Traits of Precarity-Age Leadership
Click each trait to reveal a hypothetical scenario showing the trait in action.
1. Calmness
Control of emotion, not absence of it. In a volatile world, calm leaders offer steadiness more valuable than charisma.
Hypothetical Scenario
A premier steps to the podium the morning after a surprise tariff announcement wipes billions from the provincial economy. Reporters are shouting. Her caucus is panicking. She pauses, takes a breath, and speaks slowly: 'Here is what we know. Here is what we are doing. Here is when I will update you next.' The province doesn't calm down because the news is good. It calms down because she isn't spiraling.
2. Predictability
Not rigidity, but reliability. People know what to expect from you, how you make decisions, and that your reactions will be proportional.
Hypothetical Scenario
A tech CEO faces her third round of layoffs in two years. Employees have learned to dread surprise all-hands meetings. This time, she does something different: she publishes a quarterly decision framework — the criteria she will use, the timeline she will follow, and the signals she is watching. People are still anxious, but they stop bracing for ambush. They know how she will decide, even when they don't know what she will decide.
3. Transparency
Removing unnecessary ambiguity. People don't need every detail, they need enough clarity to stop imagining worst-case scenarios.
Hypothetical Scenario
A union president sits across from 400 members after a contract negotiation stalls. He could spin it. Instead, he walks them through the employer's position line by line, explains where the union pushed back and where it couldn't, and names the three issues still unresolved. Members leave frustrated but informed. Nobody fills the silence with conspiracy theories because there is no silence to fill.
4. Competence
Preparation reassures people when everything feels unstable. Competence is a safety feature.
Hypothetical Scenario
A high school basketball coach takes over a program that has lost 30 straight games. On day one, she doesn't give a motivational speech. She hands each player a binder: practice schedules, film review timelines, conditioning benchmarks, and a week-by-week development plan. The players don't suddenly believe they'll win. But they believe someone has thought about how they could.
5. Humanity
Acknowledging that people's emotional bandwidth is thinner than it once was. When a leader speaks with real care, the room softens.
Hypothetical Scenario
A manufacturing CEO learns that a plant closure will displace 200 workers in a small town. He could send a memo. Instead, he drives to the plant, stands on the floor, and says: 'I know what this town means to you because I grew up in a town like this. I can't reverse this decision, but I can tell you that every person here will have a transition plan, a reference, and my direct number.' Half the room is angry. But nobody feels invisible.
6. Simplicity
Don't dumb things down, distill it. Taking chaos and extracting meaning. Making the world legible again for overwhelmed people.
Hypothetical Scenario
A federal minister is tasked with explaining a 400-page climate adaptation strategy to a skeptical rural audience. She doesn't bring slides. She says: 'Three things are changing. Three things we're doing about it. Three things you'll see in your community by next spring.' She takes questions for an hour. People leave disagreeing with parts of the plan — but nobody leaves confused about what the plan is.
Are Political Leaders Getting It Right?
How the precarity mindset is reshaping what voters expect — and where leaders are falling short.
The 2025 Election as Proof Point
Mark Carney's victory wasn't ideological — it was emotional. At a moment when Canadians felt the ground shifting beneath them, he projected exactly what precarity demands: calmness, competence, and clarity. 67% of voters said competence mattered more than charisma. The electorate didn't want to be inspired. They wanted to be steadied.
Where Political Leaders Fail
Most political communication is still calibrated for a scarcity mindset — promising more resources, more programs, more spending. But precarity voters aren't asking 'Will you give me more?' They're asking 'Will the ground hold?' Leaders who skip reassurance and jump straight to vision lose the room before they've started.
The Partisan Trap
Precarity amplifies exhaustion with conflict. Voters who feel unstable don't want to be recruited into a fight — they want someone to lower the temperature. Political leaders who rely on outrage and division are misreading the moment. The data shows that 43% of Canadians want leadership that is careful and measured — the single largest preference group.
Political Leadership Scorecard
How well are political leaders in Canada performing against the six traits of reassuring leadership?
Some leaders project calm; many default to alarm and urgency
Policy reversals and surprise announcements erode trust
Spin and evasion remain the dominant communication style
Voters rewarded competence in 2025 but many leaders still lead with charisma
Genuine empathy is the exception, not the rule, in political communication
Policy complexity and jargon remain barriers to public understanding
The Reassurance Loop
A practical three-step framework for leading through uncertainty.
If precarity shrinks planning horizons and activates vigilance, reassurance expands those horizons and lowers the temperature of the mind. People will follow leaders who do all three steps consistently. They will struggle with leaders who skip steps, gloss over risks, or overpromise outcomes.
Acknowledge what is true and what is unknown. People are exquisitely sensitive to evasion. Naming reality defuses speculation. When leaders evade or minimize, people don't feel reassured, they feel patronized. The first step is always honesty.
What to say
"We don't have the full picture yet, but here's what we know today."
"Reassurance does not make people passive. It makes them brave. Calmness does not make people complacent. It makes them receptive."
— Abacus Data Research
Your Weekly Leadership Audit
Five questions every leader should ask themselves at the end of each week.
If there is one thing to take from our work, it's this: leadership in an age of precarity is daily, tangible work. It is the way you speak in meetings. It is the way you follow up after a decision. It is the way you name uncertainty. Use this interactive checklist to hold yourself accountable.
How to Introduce Change
Precarity reduces the appetite for change. People become risk-averse, protective. This means it must be introduced differently.
"Change without reassurance feels like risk. Change with reassurance feels like progress."
"Leadership in an age of precarity is not about commanding the future. It is about steadying the present so that the future becomes imaginable again."
— Abacus Data Research
The Hope Embedded in This Moment
Precarity does not eliminate hope. It redirects it. People have not given up on the idea that tomorrow can be better. They have given up on the assumption that it will be. When people feel steady, they open up. When they feel heard, they collaborate. When they feel informed, they contribute. When they feel guided, they take risks again.
A mindset is not a destiny. It is a lens. It can change.
Stability Is Becoming a Competitive Advantage.
Are you reading the room? The precarity mindset is reshaping how your employees, stakeholders, customers, and audiences experience your leadership — right now.
We help leaders diagnose and respond to the precarity mindset in their organizations. Whether you need to ensure your team is buying into the mission, your stakeholders see value, or your audience feels heard — we provide the research, the framework, and the strategic guidance to get there.
Book a Keynote or Briefing
David and Eddie deliver keynote presentations and executive briefings to conferences, conventions, and leadership teams across North America and Europe.
Email to BookDownload the Leadership Framework
A one-page summary of the six traits, the Reassurance Loop, and the weekly audit — designed for leaders to print and share.
Download PDF One-PagerEnsure Your People Are Buying Into the Mission
Whether you're looking for a keynote speaker, an executive briefing, a strategic consultation, or custom research — reach out and we'll follow up within one business day.
What We Offer
Keynote presentations at conferences and conventions
Executive briefings for leadership teams
Strategic consultations on precarity implications
Custom research tailored to your industry
All inquiries go to [email protected]
The Researchers Behind the Framework
David Coletto and Eddie Sheppard are senior researchers at Abacus Data — Canada's most sought-after polling and market research firm. Together, they have spent over two decades exploring the intersection of public opinion, human behaviour, and leadership.
Dr. David Coletto
Founder, Chair & CEO, Abacus Data
David Coletto is the founder, Chair, and CEO of Abacus Data. With a career spanning over two decades, David has devoted his life to exploring what people think and feel about their work, their lives, and their politics. He is one of Canada's best known and most respected public opinion analysts, pollsters, and social researchers.
He works with some of North America and Europe's biggest and most respected brands, associations, and unions and is frequently called upon by news organizations to assess public opinion as events happen. In January 2024, The Hill Times recognized him as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in Canadian Politics noting, "when David Coletto releases polling numbers, Ottawa listens." He earned a PhD in Political Science from the University of Calgary in 2010 and is a professor in the Graduate Program of Political Management at Carleton University.
Dr. Eddie Sheppard
Executive Vice President, Abacus Data
Eddie combines his deep understanding of human behaviour and decision-making processes with his unwavering passion for analytics to provide clients with research that goes beyond the obvious. By revealing insights that are both unexpected and actionable, Eddie helps clients gain a deeper understanding of their target audiences.
Earning his PhD in Social Psychology from the University of Calgary in 2012, Eddie dedicated his career to using analytics and storytelling to understand the complexities of human thinking, emotions, and behaviour. Over a 17-year career, he has worked with clients ranging from local to international across various sectors including government, technology, transportation, tourism, education, retail, and finance.
Bring This Research to Your Audience
David and Eddie deliver keynote presentations, executive briefings, and strategic workshops to conferences, conventions, and leadership teams. They translate the precarity research into actionable insights tailored to your audience — whether you lead a business, a government department, a nonprofit, or a political organization.
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