New statistics from Canada’s Department of Finance show today’s young people, including millennials, are wealthier than previous generations of young Canadians.

Canadians born in the first half of the 1980s, between ages of 28 and 34, were found to have an average net worth of close to $93,000 per adult.

In comparison, previous generations of young Canadians between the 1940s and 1970s were found to have an average net worth of about $60,000 – 35 per cent less once adjusted for inflation.

In Winnipeg’s Exchange District, 24-year-old Brett Zahari, owner of Bronuts, has been selling donuts for just under a year, and business is good.

"We do have assets and it's worth a certain amount of money and that's for sure real, and if I walked into the bank they would for sure be happy to see me," he said. Zahari sells on average 500 donuts a day. At $2.45 a pop, that's a lot of dough.

The report not only found the younger generation had more wealth, it found younger generations seem to be accumulating savings at a similar, or a slightly higher pace than older generations. It also found wealth inequality to have remained relatively stable since the year 2000.

But the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives says the numbers are skewed. It says the report paints a picture of growing inequality.

“Not many young people have a net worth of $93,000,” said economist Lynne Fernandez, with the Manitoba chapter of the Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Fernandez said 10 per cent of the population holds 70 per cent of the wealth. “That’s what makes this $93,000 figure look so impressive. It’s saying on average, if you look at all of it, but only because you have a very few pulling it up,” she said.

She said most young people in Manitoba are still struggling and trying to land good jobs with benefits, as opposed to jobs in the service and retail industry, which tend to offer lower wages and less job security.

Larry Dagg is a financial advisor with FundEX Investments Inc. in Winnipeg. He agrees so-called ‘millennials’ might not have more money, but says young people are investing more.

He has clients born in the late 1980s and early 1990s who have investment portfolios in the tens-of-thousands-of dollars.

"I don't care if it's 20 bucks a month or 20 bucks a paycheque, every little bit helps,” said Dagg. “You have to put a value on money, maybe you have to look at not using your ATM card as much as you normally do to save on those ATM fees".

Zahari says his success came from watching his parents work.

"Them passing that work ethic down the line, makes you want to work hard, makes you want to get a good job you really love," Zahari said.

The Department of Finance report compared wealth surveys conducted in 1997, 1984, 1999, 2005 and 2012 to determine if recent generations were accumulating as much wealth as older generations, especially in the early working years.

The documents were released under the Access to Information Act.