This TikToker Asks Canadians To Get Real About Their Salaries & Some People Earn Big Bucks

Ah, Canadian salaries. How much we earn is something that many people spend a lot of time thinking about, but not a lot of time talking openly about.

But one TikToker is trying to change this and has been hitting the streets of Toronto to find out how much other Canadians are earning.

Mo Hameed is a 24-year-old currently living in The 6ix. In July, he started creating vox pop videos with fellow Canadians where he'd ask them about their wages — and the clips have become pretty popular.

In fact, as of February, he had almost 89,000 followers on TikTok, as well as millions of collective views.

Under the handle @canadianincomevideosvideos, the videos follow a format where he asks people about themselves, what they do for work and how much they earn. He also asks each individual about what led them to this career and if they have any advice for others.

So far he's chatted with everyone from entrepreneurs and financial planners, to doctors, musicians and influencers.

Many of the videos turn out to be pretty insightful, like when Hameed spoke with a social media influencer who admitted he earns six figures.

In another clip, a resident doctor revealed that she makes about $60,000 dollars per year – something that surprised even Hameed.

"I thought it'd be higher than that," he tells her. She responds, "it's not!"

There's also been a conversation with a musician who earns $42,000 a year, a crypto trader and investor earning more than $200,000 a year and a chief financial officer earning between $500,000 and $700,000 a year.

Narcity caught up with Hameed to find out why he's doing what he's doing, and what he finds most interesting about the earning potential of the people he speaks to.

"I think one of the interviews that really stood out to me was one with a carpenter," he said.

"He said he earned $45 per hour but I misunderstood that as $45,000 a year. It was only after I posted it that the comments showed me how wrong I was."

"I didn't know that was his earning potential," he admitted.

But he explained this is why he started making the videos in the first place.

"I wanted to show people that there are ways to make money outside of traditional careers," he said. "A lot of the time we tend to glamourize certain careers and honestly some of them are barely making any money."

"I felt like this was important to highlight, especially for the younger generation."

Meanwhile, he says the wildest part of this entire process has been the comments section.

"I now get loads of messages saying 'Hey, I know that guy!' or 'Hey I'm in the same field and I'm getting more than that!'" Hameed told Narcity.

However, it's not all fun and games.

Hameed is a one-man operation and does all the work himself, using a tripod to film the interviews.

He says one of the challenges he regularly encounters is that – unsurprisingly – many people are reluctant to share specific information about their salaries.

"You can see it in the videos as well, when I ask them how much they make, it really catches them off guard. People are very surprised and try to dodge the question."

So he's changing up the way he works, in order to get the most genuine results possible.

"Now I tell people beforehand what I'm going to ask them, so that they expect it."

But even so, some people who are initially interested in being interviewed walk away when they realize revealing their salary is a non-negotiable.

But Hameed is adamant that income has to be a part of the conversation.

"By being transparent we're leaving less room for gaps in the job market," he says. "It helps in disclosing the salary in a company or industry, and letting people know how much more they deserve to be paid."

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.