Nearly two-thirds of employed Canadians name the cost of living as their single biggest source of financial stress, according to new research.
The TELUS Mental Health Index for the second quarter of 2026, surveyed 3,000 employed Canadian adults between June 5 and 18 and found that 63 per cent of workers cite cost-of-living pressures as their primary financial stressor, with one in five saying that financial anxiety directly impairs their productivity at work and five per cent reporting they have missed work entirely as a result.
Workers experiencing financial stress scored 47.3 on the TELUS Mental Health Index, compared with 71.7 for those who are not, a gap of 24.4 points. Canada’s national index score sits at 63.9 overall, with a third of the workforce classified as high risk and nearly half in the moderate risk category. Anxiety and isolation remain the weakest sub-scores, at 56.1 and 59.2 respectively.