My $60,000 salary is sufficient to cover my current expenses, with the major one being rent (34/43% of gross/net income). This is thankfully on the lower end for places in Vancouver and with a 1.5% increase this year it won't get too much worse. Other expenses are OK, but I cannot purchase a car which limits my mobility outside Metro Vancouver and thus my hobbies of camping and hiking. I will not seek to extend my contract, nor am I looking at other jobs in Canada, primarily due to insufficient salaries compared to the increased cost of living. I'm still hopeful about staying in academia, but I will be more choosy when it comes to jobs in the future. I will try to save as much as possible during my time here to facilitate a more permanent and comfortable lifestyle elsewhere.
If postdoctoral funding was CAD $60,000/yr for all postdocs, how would that change your life? Increasing funding, and more importantly, tying the funding to local cost of living, will improve the lives of students and postdocs immensely. Other nations have such guarantees enshrined in law and so institutions are compelled to provide a living wage. Ultimately it will also improve the quality of research output from students and postdocs alike. Not having to scrimp and budget every expense or work extra hours makes for more engaged and focused researchers.
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