That's if they want to live in Fort Erie or Thunder Bay.

In GTA (at the probable increases coming once rates drop) they may never be able to afford a place without help.

What's an 'average' starting salary these days - surely it has to be $100k'ish - you can still buy a decent condo in the city for say $500k so a 5:1 ratio which isn't too out of whack in my opinion. Yes they won't be buying a 4 bedroom new build on a double wide lot at Avenue/Lawrence but you can still get in to the market with some discipline around savings. I don't necessarily think it's as doom and gloom as some like to make out. If someone tells me starting salaries are $50k I year I take back what I just said.

Ok, take back what you just said :) Big 4 Accounting firms started at $58k last year. A friend's son is looking for his first Mech Eng job and is seeing low - mid $60's. Teachers are about $50k. Physiotherapists low $70's.

Maybe I'm older that you guys but I was a CPA ,in 1982 bought my first house 52500 , my salary was 35000 at the time. Kids nowadays will obviously never see that , most have school debt to pay back (that's another topic). Most of our friend they have kids in their 30's move back in. Very hard to save for a house, pay back school debt and pay high rent at the same time. How are they supposed to save for a house?

Lol...maybe if you're a car thief...

Officially taken back :-) Never afraid to admit that I'm wrong - it happens frequently :-) Looks like wages are really lagging - my 16 year old son life guards and gets paid $18 an hour (a tad over minimum wage) so it does seem a bit out of touch that starting engineers and accountants make $29/$30 an hour (based on 2,000 work year). As someone stated in another post they made $35k a year in 1982 so starting salaries have less than doubled in 40 years whereas minimum wage is 6X what it was over the same period.

My guess is that $35k wasn’t his starting rate. I was hired as an Industrial Engineer at Canada Packers in 1986 right out of school at $24,200.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...0a0fafc3e2.jpg

I found this article disturbing but sadly not surprising.

https://apple.news/AFvLhvJMDSWeG_NoQqTYERw

Sales is the answer. Its not for everyone but i have young reps kicking ass and taking names 3 to 5 years out of school. My best rep just grossed 178K 3 years out of school. Hustle pays gents - he's on track to easily crest 200K gross this year, base + variable comp. Most high end earners are due to "eat what you kill" remuneration frameworks ie biz owners, lawyers, professional services, sales execs etc etc

While other non sales jobs may be "safe" very few pay well out the gate and it takes years to get to the max upper end comp wise. As an old mentor used to say nothing happens until a "sale" is made.

+1 20 years in IT sales at a Fortune 500 - some good years, some great years and needless to say some downright miserable years. Not for the faint of heart starting out when during some of those earlier years when mortgages, newborn babies to provide for are in the mix. Depending on what you are selling and who you are working for it's also a great way to travel the country/world, seem some great sporting events/concerts while you're at it. IMO also one profession less likely to be replaced (or is the term augmented) by AI - hard to automate taking a client out for lunch and taking part in some good banter. YMMV of course.

Pharma - just ~10 years into my career so plenty of hustle to support my new expensive hobby.

Yup forgot to mention the perks as well - ive seen ALL of North America and most of Europe on someone elses dime, attended some crazy lavish Chairmans trips with customers, first class restaurants, F1 races, Superbowl, Daytona 500 - all vip suites - more leafs / raptor games in corp boxes than i can remember and all because of sales and now sr executive sales mgmt. Its been a fantastic run thus far.

I saw this coming decades ago, main reason we never had kids...

I saw this coming decades ago, main reason we have guns!