Barely two in five people believe their families would be better off in the future, according to a regular global survey that also identified growing levels of distrust in institutions among low-income households.
The Edelman Trust Barometer, which for more than two decades has polled the attitudes of thousands of people, found that economic pessimism was at its highest in some of the world’s top economies such as the US, Britain, Germany and Japan.
It further confirmed how societies have been divided by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and inflation. Higher-income households still broadly trust institutions such as government, business, media and non-governmental organizations, but alienation is rife among low-income groups.
Photo: AFP
“This has really shown the mass class divide again,” said Richard Edelman, whose Edelman communications group published the survey of more than 32,000 respondents in 28 countries interviewed from Nov. 1 to 28 last year.
“We saw it in the pandemic because of differential outcomes in terms of health, now we see it in terms of the impact of inflation,” he added.
The WHO and others have noted the higher toll of the pandemic on poor people, while those on low incomes suffer most from costlier basic items.
Globally, only 40 percent agreed with the statement “my family and I will be better off in five years” compared with 50 percent a year before, with advanced economies most downbeat: the US (36 percent), Britain (23 percent), Germany (15 percent) and Japan (9 percent).
Fast-growing economies saw much higher scores — albeit lower than last year — with only China bucking the trend with a 1 percentage point rise to 65 percent, despite the economic disruption caused by its now-relaxed “zero COVID-19” policies.
Such anxieties reflect deep uncertainty about the state of the global economy as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues and central banks hike their lending rates to tame inflation.
The World Bank on Tuesday last week said the global economy could tip into recession this year.
While Edelman’s longstanding Trust Index registered an average 63 percent trust level in key institutions among high-income US respondents, that figure fell to just 40 percent among low-income groups. Similar income-based divergences were present in Saudi Arabia, China, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.
In some, that hinted at outright polarization, with high levels of respondents agreeing with the statement “I see deep divisions, and I don’t think we’ll ever get past them” in countries as different as Argentina, the US, South Africa, Spain, Sweden and Colombia.
While such attitudes inevitably reflect current events, the ebbing of trust in government in particular has been a key theme of the survey for several years, with its trust levels this year sharply lower than relatively healthy ones scored by business.
Edelman attributed that to positive perceptions of company furlough schemes during the pandemic, applause for company moves to exit Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, and a sense that firms have started to up their games on diversity and inclusion.
He said respondents by a six-to-one margin wanted business to engage more on issues from reskilling to climate change, and suggested this should encourage them to brush off accusations such as the “woke capitalism” charge voiced by US Republicans.
“I think our data give a lot of ammunition to the CEOs who have recognized that business has to be an important force in societal issues,” he said.
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