credit, Credit Card Debt, Credit Cards, credit rating, debt, finances, income
Q. How concerned are you about the amount you currently owe on your credit cards?
| Very concerned | 11% |
| Somewhat concerned | 16% |
| Not very concerned | 27% |
| Don’t owe anything on credit cards | 44% |
| Don’t know | 1% |
27% say they are very or somewhat concerned about the amount they owe on their credit cards. Those most concerned were aged 35-44 (35%) and full-time workers (35%). There was little difference across income groups.
12% of those who intend to put more than half their Christmas spending on credit cards say they are very concerned about their current credit card debt and 23% are somewhat concerned.
economics, economy, EMC, ER, Essential Media, Essential Report, finances, Greens, Labor, Liberal, money, Nationals, Polling, polls, the economy
Q. Over the next 12 months do you think economic conditions in Australia will get better, get worse or stay much the same?
| 1 Dec 08 | 15 Jun 09 | 5 Oct 09 | 18 Jan 10 | 29 Mar 10 | 28 Jun 10 | 18 Oct 10 | 4 April 11 | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Total better | 21% | 43% | 66% | 53% | 54% | 33% | 40% | 27% | 38% | 25% | 23% |
| Total worse | 61% | 37% | 15% | 19% | 19% | 31% | 30% | 37% | 26% | 48% | 33% |
| Get a lot better | 2% | 5% | 8% | 9% | 9% | 5% | 6% | 4% | 7% | 3% | 3% |
| Get a little better | 19% | 38% | 58% | 44% | 45% | 28% | 34% | 23% | 31% | 22% | 20% |
| Get a little worse | 45% | 28% | 11% | 14% | 13% | 23% | 20% | 27% | 22% | 33% | 27% |
| Get a lot worse | 16% | 9% | 4% | 5% | 6% | 8% | 10% | 10% | 4% | 15% | 6% |
| Stay much the same | 13% | 17% | 15% | 24% | 22% | 30% | 24% | 27% | 32% | 23% | 35% |
| No opinion | 5% | 3% | 4% | 4% | 6% | 7% | 6% | 8% | 4% | 5% | 8% |
Optimism about Australia’s economic outlook has declined substantially in the last 6 months. 27% think economic conditions in Australia will get better over the next 12 months and 37% think they will get worse – a net decline of 20% since this question was last asked in October. This is the most negative result recorded since December 2008.
Younger people are more optimistic than older people – of those aged under 35, 34% think conditions will get better and 27% worse.
38% of Labor voters think conditions will get better and 26% worse while 25% of Coalition voters think conditions will get better and 48% worse.
EMC, ER, Essential Media, Essential Report, finances, financial situation, Greens, Labor, Liberal, money, Nationals, Personal financial situation, Polling, polls
Q. Over the next 12 months do you think your personal financial situation will get better, get worse or stay much the same?
| 29 Mar 10 | 28 Jun 10 | 18 Oct 10 | 4 April 11 | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Total better | 40% | 29% | 33% | 32% | 37% | 29% | 40% |
| Total worse | 23% | 31% | 29% | 31% | 28% | 35% | 21% |
| Get a lot better | 8% | 5% | 6% | 7% | 7% | 7% | 7% |
| Get a little better | 32% | 24% | 27% | 25% | 30% | 22% | 33% |
| Get a little worse | 17% | 21% | 21% | 22% | 21% | 24% | 16% |
| Get a lot worse | 6% | 10% | 8% | 9% | 7% | 11% | 5% |
| Stay much the same | 33% | 37% | 32% | 32% | 32% | 33% | 34% |
| No opinion | 4% | 4% | 5% | 5% | 3% | 3% | 6% |
32% think their own personal financial situation will get better over the next 12 months and 31% worse – 32% think they will stay much the same.
This is a little less optimistic than the October result – a decrease from net +4% to +1%.
Among full-time workers, 40% think their situation will get better and 27% worse while those who are not working are more pessimistic – 25% better/32% worse/36% much the same.
For those aged 55+, 15% expect their financial situation to get better and 39% worse while for those aged under 35, 48% expect it to get better and 24% worse.
family, finances, workplace, year in review
Q. Has it been a good or bad year for each of the following?
| Total good | Total bad | Very good | Good | Neither good nor bad | Bad | Very bad | Don’t know | |
| Your personal financial situation | 28% | 28% | 4% | 24% | 42% | 21% | 7% | 1% |
| Your workplace * | 43% | 21% | 6% | 37% | 33% | 17% | 4% | 3% |
| You and your family overall | 43% | 19% | 7% | 36% | 36% | 14% | 5% | 2% |
* based on working people
Respondents were evenly divided over whether it has been a good or bad year financially. Those most likely to say it was a good year were full-time workers (37% good/20% bad), aged under 35 (37%/23%) and incomes over $1,600pw (42%/20%).
Respondents were more positive about their workplace (43%/21%) and overall for themselves and their family (43%/19%). Younger respondents were a little more positive about themselves and their family– those aged under 35 split 50% good/13% bad. Comments »
Q. Over the next 12 months do you think your personal financial situation will get better, get worse or stay much the same?
| 29 Mar 10 | 28 Jun 10 | |
| Total better | 40% | 29% |
| Total worse | 23% | 31% |
| Get a lot better | 8% | 5% |
| Get a little better | 32% | 24% |
| Get a little worse | 17% | 21% |
| Get a lot worse | 6% | 10% |
| Stay much the same | 33% | 37% |
| No opinion | 4% | 4% |
Respondents were similarly divided over whether their personal financial situation will get better or worse over the next 12 months – 29% (down 11%) think it will get better and 31% (up 8%) worse. 37% (up 4%) think it will stay much the same. Although this represents a significant negative shift, it is not as big a shift as the overall economic outlook from the previous question.
Men (32% better/25% worse) were more optimistic than women (25%/35%). Optimism was also higher for upper income groups – those earning over $1,600 pw split 42% better/23% worse while those earning under $1,000 pw split 18% better/36% worse. Comments »
Q. Thinking about your personal financial situation, do you agree or disagree with the statement “The economy may be doing well but I am not any better off”?
| Total agree | 69% |
| Total disagree | 22% |
| Strongly agree | 24% |
| Agree | 45% |
| Disagree | 20% |
| Strongly disagree | 2% |
| Don’t know | 8% |
69% agreed with the statement “the economy may be doing well but I am not any better off” and 22% disagreed.
Those most likely to agree were part-time workers (79%), aged 45+ (76%) and those earning less than $600 pw (77%). There were no substantial differences by voting intention. Comments »
economy, EMC, ER, essential report, finances, Interest rates, Personal financial situation
Q. Will the recent increase in official interest rates make you personally better or worse off financially?
| % | |
| Total better off | 15% |
| Total worse off | 41% |
| Much better off | 2% |
| A little better off | 13% |
| A little worse off | 31% |
| Much worse off | 10% |
| Make no difference | 40% |
| Don’t know | 4% |
41% of people think that the recent increase in official interest rates make them worse off personally, 15% think the interest rate increase will make them better off and 40% think it will make no difference to their personal financial situation.
People aged 55 years and over were more likely to indicate that the increase in official interest rates will make them better off (36%) while middle aged people were more likely to indicate that it will make them worse off (53% of 25 – 34 year olds, 54% of 35 – 44 year olds).
People in full-time work were more likely to indicate that the interest rate increase will make them worse off (55%).
Perception that the rise in interest rates will make people worse off increased with salary – 46% of people earning $600 – $1000 per week/46% of those earning $1000 – $1600 per week and 49% of those earning $1600+ per week think it will make them worse off. 55% of those earning $600 per week or less think the interest rate increase will make no difference to their personal financial situation.