Content supplied by Roy Morgan Research
Economic issues are clearly the most important problems facing New Zealand and the World today according to the latest Roy Morgan Research conducted in February 2014.
When asked about the most important problem facing New Zealand, 42% of New Zealanders mention some kind of Economic issue.
This is down 3% since October 2013 but still well ahead of Social issues (21%, up 1%), Government/ Public policy/ Human rights issues (19%, unchanged) and Environmental issues (9%, up 3%).
The most important Economic issues facing New Zealand include Poverty / The gap between the rich and the poor (16%, up 3%), Economy/ Financial crisis/ Recession/ Inflation/ Exchange rate/ High dollar (10%, down 1%), Unemployment/ Job security (7%, down 4%) and the Cost of living/ Increasing prices/ Financial hardship/ Household debt (5%, down 1%).
Other important issues mentioned by New Zealanders are the Government/ Politicians/ Leadership/ Government spending (8%, unchanged), Social apathy/ Lack of values/ Lack of empathy towards others/ Intolerance (5%, up 1%), Drugs/ Alcohol Issues/ Drink Driving (4%, up 2%), Environmental Issues/ Degradation (4%, up 1%), Housing shortage/ Affordability (3%, down 3%) and Education (3%, up 1%).
New Zealanders views on the problems facing the world are not materially different.
The biggest World problems are again Economic issues (mentioned by 36% of New Zealanders, down 8% since October 2013), in front of Terrorism/ Wars/ Security (22%, up 6%), Social Issues (16%, up 2%) and Environmental issues (12%, down 2%).
Among the Economic issues facing the World mentioned by New Zealanders the most important are Poverty/ The gap between the rich and the poor/ Imbalance of wealth (18%, up 2%), the Economy/ Financial crisis/ Recession (8%, down 9%), Over-population (4%, up 1%) and Cost of living/ Increasing prices/ Financial hardship/ Household debt (3%, unchanged).
Other important issues facing the World mentioned by New Zealanders include Wars and Conflicts/ Unrest (11%, up 1%), Social apathy/ Lack of values/ Lack of empathy towards others/ Intolerance (9%, up 4%), Religion/ Religious conflict (7%, up 4%), Climate change/ Global warming (5%, down 2%) and Government/ Politicians/ Political unrest/ Instability/ Greedy and corrupt governments (4%, up 1%).
“Over the last few surveys the economic problems have taken a different shape – or at least are being articulated differently. Since July 2013 more New Zealanders are concerned with the ‘imbalance of wealth’ / ‘the gap between the rich and the poor’ than are concerned about the more ‘economic’ metrics like recession, inflation, exchange rates and the value of the dollar," said spokepersona Michele Levine.
“In the latest research only 7% mentioned unemployment as the biggest problem facing New Zealand. This is substantially lower than was recorded in May 2013 (15%), October 2012 (19%) or January 2012 (12%) – just after the last New Zealand election," she said.
5 Comments
“Over the last few surveys the economic problems have taken a different shape – or at least are being articulated differently. Since July 2013 more New Zealanders are concerned with the ‘imbalance of wealth’ / ‘the gap between the rich and the poor’ than are concerned about the more ‘economic’ metrics like recession, inflation, exchange rates and the value of the dollar," said spokepersona Michele Levine.
This is a bit of a worry, twisted statistics turning into a political foot ball. You cant have all rich people, only all poor people. No one wants that.
From the above statement I read, people care more about the outcome than fixing the causes of inequality (equal opportunity, unemployment, wages not keeping up with inflation, etc)
Really? It is not a big change, only similar to the one in October 2013.
You can't expect steady rises. They are working to make it fully convertible, freely floating within a few years. With that comes volatility, just like the NZD.
Besides, vs the NZD the change is even less.
None at the moment, I believe. But they are clearly working to be much more market responsive. You can see that in both the big overall trends and the smaller day-to-day shifts. I check this chart every day.
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