Roy Morgan State of the Nation Report 4: Economic Issues

Friday, 23 March 2012, 12:00 pm
Article: Roy Morgan Research

Roy Morgan State of the Nation Report 4: Economic issues worry New Zealanders
The Roy Morgan State of the Nation Report 4 has found that over 50% of New Zealander’s (14+) believe economic issues to be the major problem currently facing the country, significantly ahead of other issues such as environmental concerns and social issues.

The new report is based on data from a nationwide survey of approximately 12,000 New Zealanders in the 12 months to December 2011, but also includes trended data stretching back over the past decade on broad topics such as society, technology, the economy, politics and the environment. This edition of the report also includes a spotlight on ‘New Zealanders Aged 55+’ which focuses on the wealth, debt, expenditure, employment and retirement intentions of this large proportion of New Zealanders.

One section of the Roy Morgan State of the Nation Report 4 involves data from a recent national poll surveying the most important issues facing the country. When it comes to the issues facing New Zealand, there is again an overwhelming concern for economic issues, with 51% believing they are a major problem. The specific concerns in this area were to do with the financial crisis, inflation, exchange rates, and unemployment and job security. The level of concern for the New Zealand economy is far higher than we saw in the same poll run in Australia where the concern for economic issues was only 35% (January 2012).

Most Important Issues Facing New Zealand

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Source: Roy Morgan Research Telephone Poll, January 16-29, n = 1,050.

Social issues continue to rise as an important concern in New Zealand (21%), with crime/law and order and child abuse/lack of care for children problems standing out as most prominent.

As with Australia, the environment has declined as an area of concern (11% compared to 19% in October 2011), although this is likely due to decreased attention on last year’s Rena Oil Spill. Natural disasters were the major specific concern in this area.

Issues relating to government/political/immigration and human rights are seen as most important by 6%, and it is concern for government, politicians and leadership which account for most of this.

Pip Elliott, Client Services Director, Roy Morgan Research, says:

“The State of the Nation Report is a comprehensive overvi ew of the changing face of New Zealand. The report will aid businesses and individuals in understanding the New Zealand population and separate popular trends from larger societal shifts. The report also includes a special focus on the 55+ age group and shows their increase in workforce participation, investment and expenditure.”

Roy Morgan’s New Zealand State of the Nation Report will provide an understanding into the trends and issues facing Australians today. This report provides accurate and relevant information on the State of the Nation in terms of Society, Technology, Economy, Politics, and Environment.

About Roy Morgan Research
Roy Morgan Research is Australia’s best known and longest established market research and public opinion survey company. Roy Morgan Single Source is thorough, accurate, and provides comprehensive, directly applicable information about current and future customers. It is unique in that it directs all the questions to each individual from a base survey sample of around 55,000 interviews in Australia and 15,000 interviews in New Zealand annually - the largest Single Source databases in the world. The questions asked relate to lifestyle and attitudes, media consumption habits (including TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, cinema, catalogues, pay TV and the Internet), brand and product usage, purchase intentions, retail visitations, service provider preferences, financial information and recreation and leisure activities. This lead product is supported by a nationally networked, consultancy-orientated market research capa bility.

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Press release and supporting media files are available here

ENDS

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Roy Morgan Research

New Zealand's leading social and market research company

A full service research organisation specialising in omnibus and syndicated data, Roy Morgan Research has over 70 years' experience in collecting objective, independent information on consumers. Roy Morgan Research was set up in New Zealand in the 1990s and has been collecting information across a wide range of industries in New Zealand ever since. Roy Morgan currently has over 10 years of trended data on a geographically and demographically representative sample of over 12,000 New Zealanders aged 14+.

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