The Japanese are the least optimistic nation in the Asia Pacific region regarding the economy this year while the Australians and New Zealanders are the most optimistic, a survey said yesterday.
Only 7 percent of Japanese believe this year will see the economy getting better compared to 63 percent of people in New Zealand and 52 percent of those in Australia.
Filipinos are not far behind on pessimism with only 17 percent believing the economy will get better compared to 35 percent who say it will get worse.
A similar picture of doom and gloom emerged in Hong Kong where 37 percent forecast more bad news for the economy. Only 9 per cent in the territory think economic prosperity is around the corner while 42 percent say unemployment is a possibility for them.
The jobless rate is one of the biggest concerns in India with 46 percent forecasting a big increase. In Japan, almost half of those surveyed say unemployment will increase slightly with 55 percent predicting an increase in industrial disputes.
Malayasians are the most optimistic in terms of job security with 86 per cent believing their current job to be safe and 67 per cent saying finding a new job would be easy if they were laid off.
The findings are the result of an end of year study by Gallup International and market researcher Taylor Nelson Sofres.
Umang Pabaru, TNS senior researcher, said the results showed some degree of optimism could be detected, however, with the increasing number of international incidents more and more people were becoming concerned about peace.
Most of the countries surveyed believe 2003 will be a troubled year in terms of international relations with around seven out of 10 Australians and New Zealanders saying trouble was ahead.
The Japanese emerge as the most optimistic in this area with 33 percent saying this year would be trouble-free compared to only 2 percent of Australians.
RSS