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Millennials Flee Vancouver for More Affordable Cities

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Re: Millennials Flee Vancouver for More Affordable Cities

#261

Post by J-dawg »

JPKab wrote: post #255
J-dawg wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're overestimating European social support systems a bit. Here in the UK, you can be fired quite easily until you've been in a job for 2 years. After that, you can still be made redundant. IBM are currently laying off a lot of people and only paying them the legal minimum settlement (1 week's pay for every year worked). Our unemployment benefits are very low. Most professional people wouldn't even bother c…

Yes, perhaps I was overestimating, especially for the UK. We Americans tend to jealously view the EU as a bit of a utopia when it comes to these things, as you correctly pointed out. However, don't underestimate the NHS. My biggest fear when I was early in my career was not having health insurance for my baby boy and wife. Getting ill between jobs (this was before Obama's new health care expansion) could result in ba…

Point taken, perhaps my final point was overstating things a bit (or underestimating just how awful the healthcare situation is in America).

I think people like me who are lucky enough to be basically healthy can get a skewed view of the NHS, because for routine medical care the 'customer service' is pretty awful.

I've come to believe this slightly mediocre experience is actually necessary to the survival of the NHS. If you could (for example) instantly see a GP and get referred to a physiotherapist every time you got a bit of back pain, the whole system would be inundated with demand. For routine stuff like this, most working people would skip the NHS altogether and go direct to a private physio (or have it covered by their employer's plan).

But it's there for all the important (and expensive) stuff like childbirth and serious illnesses. And for that we are insanely lucky.

I'm sorry to hear about what happened to your wife and son. I hope they're both doing great now.

Re: Millennials Flee Vancouver for More Affordable Cities

#262

Post by J-dawg »

stuxnet79 wrote: post #233
J-dawg wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're overestimating European social support systems a bit. Here in the UK, you can be fired quite easily until you've been in a job for 2 years. After that, you can still be made redundant. IBM are currently laying off a lot of people and only paying them the legal minimum settlement (1 week's pay for every year worked). Our unemployment benefits are very low. Most professional people wouldn't even bother c…

> It's nice to know the NHS is there and I'm not going to go bankrupt if I get cancer, but it's massively overstretched and under-resourced. I'm happier knowing I have private health insurance. Is the NHS really that bad? I understand there must be some disadvantages to it but it is still pretty damn impressive especially when you consider that Americans spend more per capita on health care but still need to get priv…

It's not that bad, I think I was overstating things. I've explained a little more in my reply to the parent comment

Re: Millennials Flee Vancouver for More Affordable Cities

#263

Post by toomanybeersies »

VLM wrote: post #111
toomanybeersies wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not that Canada or anywhere else in the world has humiliatingly low salaries, it's just that the USA has such strong regulations on skilled immigration, that the wages for developers are artificially inflated. Most other countries, when faced with a shortage of workers in an industry, prioritise them over everyone else. In New Zealand, you need a certain amount of points to immigrate, and being in a high demand…

"the wages for developers are artificially inflated" The wages are reasonable given extremely strict "culture fit" requirements. Must be male, must be white, must be under 30 with precisely 1-3 years experience never more or less, must be an ivy grad or close equiv, must perform well in hazing rituals like the whiteboard interview, must tolerate sweatshop working conditions, etc etc etc. I mean, if you want to hire d…

You can be a developer and not be working at a startup.

There's a general shortage of developers. I'm fairly sure that IBM and other large companies are short of developers, and they'd absolutely hire "a middle aged black woman immigrated from Senegal with 6 years experience and a non-ivy degree"

Why does everyone act like everybody else wants to work in startups. I don't. I was a nice job, where I come to work at 0900, leave at 1730, and do my own thing outside of work.

I'd hazard a guess that 90% of programmer jobs aren't at startups.

Re: Millennials Flee Vancouver for More Affordable Cities

#264

Post by imaginenore »

woah wrote: post #102
imaginenore wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people here make way above average, and that's when differences increase dramatically. In the US I make close to $300k. In Europe, and London in particular, I get offered under 80k EUR.

"Most people make way above average"?

Wow, nice quoting technique you've got.

Re: Millennials Flee Vancouver for More Affordable Cities

#265

Post by mabbo »

ido wrote: post #232
mabbo wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some do leave, yes. Many come back home later. Amazon opened the Toronto office back in 2011 because there was demand- Canadians who didn't want to live in America anymore- often because of family, friends back home or because they wanted to have kids and not raise them as Americans, culturally. It started with less than 10 people, plus the hiring they were able to do locally. It's now an office of over 300 people, m…

As an outsider, respectfully - what is "culturally American" compared to "culturally Canadian"? I've been to both countries several times and I would not be able to tell if a person is American or Canadian unless they told me.

It's a good question.

Gun culture is a big aspect of it; I wouldn't want my hypothetical children raised in a place where people keep handguns around 'for protection'. Conservatism; Bernie Sanders would be a centrist up here, not a liberal. The strange mania of patriotism and flag-love. The military culture with half the tax dollars spent there and politicians fighting to increase it. The absolute hatred of taxes.

It's not that all Americans are like this (or that no Canadians are) but so many are that the laws, rules and norms reflect it. The culture is much further in those directions than I want to be.

I loved living in Seattle, which is more liberal than Canada in many ways, but it's still very American.

In a nutshell: Canada was one of the first countries to legalize same-sex marriage. America was one of the last in the Western world. No one is surprised by either of these two facts.

Re: Millennials Flee Vancouver for More Affordable Cities

#266

Post by pjc50 »

jakobegger wrote: post #94
pjc50 wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So I think that housing prices would naturally fall if interest rates went up. The problem is that falling house prices put people "underwater", and rising interest rates put people on variable rate mortgages in arrears. This inflicts a huge amount of pain on middle class floating voters.

Yes, I think this is a huge problem -- if interest rates rise again, a lot of people will suffer. Therefore policy makers have a big incentive to keep interest rates low. I don't know how this will end, but I don't think that the current low interest situation, which incentivises credit and discourages saving, can be stable in the long run.

incentivises credit and discourages saving

Both of those things encourage economic growth, though. Until we come up with some better way of meeting our demand-side needs, rates are going to stay low.

Re: Millennials Flee Vancouver for More Affordable Cities

#267

Post by tostitos1979 »

breitling wrote: post #152
tostitos1979 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Toronto is not much better. Million dollar homes in the boonies like Vaughan and Stouffville. It is a disaster for young people starting out. We deferred a home purchase since we were in grad school/there was general talk of a housing bubble since 2006. At this point, we're in the top 1% in terms of income and can barely afford a home. Oh .. and homes are getting multiple offers, buyers are getting into bidding wars…

Consider Durham region...it's a lot more affordable and connectivity to downtown is excellent.

Do you mean Oshawa? By downtown connectivity are you referring to Go Transit or the 401? We were looking at Markham but I shudder at how I'll get to downtown except by Go. DVP is a disaster. Thanks in advance!

Re: Millennials Flee Vancouver for More Affordable Cities

#268

Post by kspaans »

tostitos1979 wrote: post #267
breitling wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Consider Durham region...it's a lot more affordable and connectivity to downtown is excellent.

Do you mean Oshawa? By downtown connectivity are you referring to Go Transit or the 401? We were looking at Markham but I shudder at how I'll get to downtown except by Go. DVP is a disaster. Thanks in advance!

DVP has a high-occupancy-vehicle lane doesn't it? >:^)

Re: Millennials Flee Vancouver for More Affordable Cities

#269

Post by breitling »

tostitos1979 wrote: post #267
breitling wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Consider Durham region...it's a lot more affordable and connectivity to downtown is excellent.

Do you mean Oshawa? By downtown connectivity are you referring to Go Transit or the 401? We were looking at Markham but I shudder at how I'll get to downtown except by Go. DVP is a disaster. Thanks in advance!

By Durham I mean Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, Brooklin, and Oshawa.

GO trains are every 10 minutes during rush hours and every 30 minutes at all other times. Trains start at 4/5 am and go until 1am.

Markham does not have that level of connectivity. There are only a couple trains that run in the morning and then a couple in the evening. It is serviced by buses at other times.

Real estate prices wise, for what you pay for a town home in Markham, you can get a full detached home in Pickering...and it's only like 15 minutes away from Markham.

Re: Millennials Flee Vancouver for More Affordable Cities

#270

Post by dghughes »

mkaziz wrote: post #211
dghughes wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This seems to be a direct result of capital flight from China. It's even happening to tiny PEI in the east we have seen a massive surge of Chinese people (to clarify yes from China) investing in and living in the province. Five years ago you could walk down the street and it was typical small town Canada last summer I went to a Starbucks and every single person was Chinese. There are now at least two if not three B…

PEI of Anne of Green Gables fame? Man, now I wish I had visited it earlier ... it's been a life dream of mine to go see it!

Had? It's still there come visit we don't bite, that costs extra.
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