March 2021
The Canadian Financial Diaries is a multi-year project that seeks to capture the finances and financial experiences of low- and modest-income earners in Canada. The Finances of Precariously Employed Participants, a focused and descriptive report, draws on quantitative data of the financial flows of participants and qualitative information about participants’ financial experiences, views about well-being, and financial decision-making. In phase 1, CFD worked with 29 participants for one year. During this year of in-person meetings, we met with participants weekly or semi-weekly to record financial inflows and outflows. Participants recorded their financial data on a weekly basis and then provided a written copy of those flows or talked us through their finances.
This summary is the second in a series describing the financial health of low- and modest-middle income participants involved in the Canadian Financial Diaries Research Project. The seven participants in this group were purposefully selected because their employment situations during their participation in the project rely on one or more casual and part-time jobs. These jobs are sometimes in the informal sector, often with small employers, and not very secure so that these jobs and the associated income could be described as precarious. The goal of this summary is to provide the reader with a glimpse of the lives and financial practices of seven precariously employed participants to better understand both the barriers and opportunities which impacted their financial well-being.
Canadian Financial Diaries Research Project 
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