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The Impact Of A Recession On Relationships

By Stephanie Bonotto

[Relationships]

Do you have to give up on your relationship goals when times are tough financially? Stephanie Bonotto takes a look at how being strapped for cash can affect your relationship.

All young couples have eventual life goals and plans, but when this recession hit, many were not financially prepared for it. Suddenly, your stable job may not be so stable or maybe you just finished school and are forced to look for a job when there are many others like you fighting over so few jobs, even jobs you are over-qualified for. All of this can have a negative impact on your self-esteem, which can in turn, carry over into your relationship. Frustration is imminent, as is the occasional fight between you and your partner. The important thing to remember is that you are lucky to have someone to talk to in hard times and you should take advantage of that, instead of pushing him or her away out of shame or embarrassment. Take it from me, as a University grad working part-time in a field that couldn’t be further from my expertise, I can sometimes get angry over petty things instead of talking about what is really getting me down: the fact that I want to get my career started and not feel like I am wasting good years.

Just how does an economic recession affect your personal life? Whether or not you realize it, your financial standing and your job satisfaction have a lot to do with your overall happiness. Just how much you let it influence you is up to you.

Recent Job Cuts

In November, the Financial Post reported more than 70,000 job cuts in Canada, bringing the unemployment rate to 6.3 per cent. As of early March, those numbers have increased to just over 110,000 job losses and an unemployment rate of 7 per cent, an unbelievably fast climb. Most of the job losses appear to be at the top of the corporate ladder. Managers, senior level executives and those who have been with their companies for decades are the ones whose stories we hear about when it comes to layoffs. If those with years of experience are feeling the crunch, how well can those fresh out of school, with minimal job experience, expect to survive? In fact, landing even an entry-level job has proven challenging. Economists believe that Canadians cannot expect to see relief in the job market until the beginning of 2010. If they are right, we still have a long way to go.

How Post-Secondary Education Is Affected

Young people have always been urged to go to college or university, but now governments are even suggesting graduate school simply because there are not enough jobs to meet the demand. For young couples looking to begin full-time work, so that they may save for their future (whether that includes travel, marriage, children or all of the above) looking for a job has become less about what we want to do and more about finding anyone who will hire us now. We are putting off our dreams and being realistic, but the question is, will we ever find our way back?

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