German people are optimistic again about the future of the German economy. This was shown by a recent public opinion poll carried out by the Wirtschaftsjunioren Deutschland (WJD). Almost fifty percent of the more than 8.500 people questioned during the survey expect an economic upswing. People have not been that optimistic since the year 2000 which was a real boom year.
For the first time in many years more than one quarter of Germans believe that even with strong competition in particular by China Germany will be among the winners of globalization. Almost two thirds of people think that their work place is safe, but due to rising expenditure for health, housing, mobility and pension schemes almost 40 percent of those questioned fear that their financial situation will deteriorate in the foreseeable future.
In order to save their jobs more than 60 percent of those questioned would be ready to work more and almost 50 percent would be willing to put up with irregular working times. One quarter would accept the abolition of social benefits, the reduction of holidays or national holidays, the freezing of wages, salaries and pensions.
According to the WJD the German government’s work is assessed by German citizens with an average mark of 3.4 points on a scale from 1 to 5. A clear majority would like the state to have less influence on the economy.
If they could themselves decide on the budget, Germans would spend more money on education and research, family policies and the economy. In order to reduce unemployment Germans would improve the educational system, reduce non-wage labour costs and concentrate on more family friendly policies.
A summary of the survey´s findings is available on the WJD website. The report on the survey is available for free-of-charge download. 