I can't believe this. Can you?
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Singaporeans less worried about economy, job security: survey
By May Wong, Channel NewsAsia
SINGAPORE : A recent AC Nielsen survey has found that Singaporeans
are less concerned about the economy's performance and job security
compared to six months ago.
This was even before the government released its latest economic
data.
The survey showed that Singaporeans are more optimistic about how
the country will perform economically.
Singapore posted 5.7 percent growth last year, with unemployment
dipping to 4.3 percent.
However, concerns about terrorism and health have risen in the last
six months.
Said Peter Kriz, Assistant Professor of Economics at Singapore
Management University, "The world is having to deal with the Bali
bombings, the bombings in London, as well as the fallout from 9/11;
and Singapore is now coming out of SARS and it's now having to
confront, with the rest of Asia, bird flu. So clearly terrorism and
health are major concerns.
"A few years ago, Asia faced a pretty difficult scenario and we saw
severe recessions in a number of countries. Currently, you have a
perfect alignment of stars on the macro level. The global
environment is looking very healthy and Singapore is very well
positioned to take advantage of that. So I would imagine they
wouldn't be as concerned with economic prospects."
Many Singaporeans Channel NewsAsia spoke to were mixed in their
views to the survey findings.
"They are still pretty practical and still more concerned about
jobs and things which affect them directly," one Singaporean
said.
"We're concerned about our own security first, which is giving food
to the table and all that, taking care of the kids," said
another.
"Terrorism is something just brought to light to a lot of people.
So job (security) is ongoing; whether you have it or not, life goes
on," another Singaporean said.
On saving money, the top 10 nations featured are all Asian.
Given the positive economic outlook for this year, the survey also
confirmed that Singaporeans would rather spend their money going on
holidays first, before paying off their debts or credit card
bills.
And retailers shouldn't expect too much, because it appears that
Singapore is among the top three countries in Asia Pacific when it
comes to saving.
The survey found that 3 in every 5 Singaporeans would put their
extra cash into their piggybanks.
The survey, conducted two months ago, involved more than 23,000
Internet users worldwide. - CNA /ct
