Canadians are growing increasingly pessimistic about the state of the economy and believe the country is experiencing a mild recession, according to the results of an Economic Club of Canada survey.
A mere 25 per cent of poll respondents said they feel optimistic about the economy's potential in 2012. That's down from 36 per cent who were optimistic a year earlier, and a steep drop from the 54 per cent who were optimistic about the economy in 2009.
The results suggest the growing pessimism stems from the lack of a quick recovery from the 2008 through 2009 recession.
"If last year I reported that Canadians were cautious and retrenching, then this year I have to state that they are now seriously concerned and worried," Michael Marzolini, chairman of Pollara Strategic Insights, which conducted the survey on behalf of the Economic Club, said in a speech Thursday.
About 70 per cent of respondents said they believe Canada is experiencing a mild recession, even if it isn't technically in one. Poll results above were collected online from 2,878 Canadians by the Pollara research firm.
"The economy is growing, but not really fast enough to bring the unemployment rate down and not really fast enough to make Canadians feel better about their personal circumstances," said Avery Shenfield, senior economist at CIBC World Markets.
Angelos Svasthakis, who manages a jewelry store in Toronto, knows that skittish feeling very well. Even a year ago, sales were more robust than this year.
"I have come to realize people spend less and less every year," he said. "We do double the effort to get the same amount of money we got last year."
Adding to the bad news, it appears that the holiday boon that many retailers depend on didn't go as well as many had hoped, according to early indicators.
Much of that has to do with declining consumer confidence and the sluggish economy south of the border in the U.S.
"There is enormous uncertainty out there. The crystal calls are unbelievably cracked and cloudy, and the reason is that there are big risks out there. And the risks all have a political dimension to them," said TD chief economist Craig Alexander.
A technical recession is defined as two successive quarters of economic shrinkage.
Economists are predicting growth in Canada to fall under two per cent in 2012, which may not have much impact on the job market.
Canada's unemployment rate sits at 7.4 per cent, meaning about 1.5 million Canadians can't find work. Statistics Canada will release the latest unemployment numbers on Friday.
But there are some signs of a rebound in the U.S., with major employers like Amazon, Chrysler and the American arm of TD Bank all hiring.
With a report from CTV's Omar Sachedina
