Unemployment is world's fastest-rising fear - survey

 
A pile of Indonesian currency The survey found that corruption is a major concern across the world

Related Stories

Unemployment is the world's fastest-rising worry, a BBC World Service survey covering 11,000 people in 23 countries suggests.

The annual poll, called The World Speaks, gave people a list of concerns and asked which they had discussed with friends or family in the past month.

Corruption and poverty still ranked the highest, but unemployment was mentioned by 18% - six times the rate citing it in the first survey in 2009.

The poll was carried out by Globescan.

The growth in concern was found across all countries surveyed, although corruption emerged as the most talked about global concern.

Nearly a quarter of those asked had discussed that topic in some form over the past four weeks.

Young jobless

Next came extreme poverty. One in five had talked about that subject recently.

Issues associated with inflation, such as higher food and energy prices, were on level pegging with unemployment in third place - with both topics mentioned by 18% of those surveyed.

Concern about joblessness seemed to vary by country.

Top of the list was Spain, where 54% of those sampled said they had discussed unemployment recently, an increase of one-third on the previous year's BBC poll.

Spain is at the heart of the debt crisis in the eurozone and has the highest youth unemployment in the region at greater than 40%.

Ghana, Mexico, Nigeria and Turkey were among the other countries where this topic appeared a particular concern, with a third or more of those sampled saying they had discussed the issue in the month before the survey.

One could speculate that growing concern about the lack of jobs is linked to current economic worries, such as financial problems for euro currency and the resulting slowdown of major economies.

But there is no certainty about this.

The first annual survey published in 2009 coincided with possibly even greater economic global turbulence linked to the collapse of the US investment bank Lehman Brothers.

Corruption and poverty emerge as hardy perennials of global debate.

All three annual surveys carried out so far have shown these topics to be near the top of the list.

Regional differences

But the latest results show considerable differences between countries in the issues people find important.

In the US, France and Japan - all wealthy, developed nations - the state of the world economy emerged as the main talking point.

By contrast, corruption was the most frequently discussed issue in Nigeria, India, Turkey, Indonesia, Nigeria and Peru.

These are all developing nations, most with poor reputations for transparency in government and business.

In another group of developing countries, including China, Russia, Kenya and the Philippines, rising prices for food and energy were the main topic.

In Latin America, however, crime and violence emerged as commonly discussed themes.

Indeed in Brazil, famous for social tensions in its urban slums, along with Ecuador and Mexico, noted for drugs-related killings, crime and violence were the most talked-about subjects.

Changing perceptions

People in developed nations appeared more concerned about the longer-term, less immediate threat associated with climate change than those sampled in poorer, developing economies.

But almost everywhere global warming had slipped down the ranking of issues discussed in the last month.

The topic was the most frequently talked about issue in 10 nations in last year's survey, but this year climate change topped the list only in Germany and Britain.

Fieldwork for the latest poll was carried out between July and September of this year by the polling firm Globescan on behalf of the BBC.

 

More on This Story

Related Stories

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites

Comments

Jump to comments pagination
 
  • rate this
    +1

    Comment number 244.

    What worries me is the amount of skilled people in the UK who cannot find employment. The lack of support who those people is similarly concerning. I think the misguided idea that teenagers should go to university to guarantee a career is increasingly absurd. I have a Business studies degree and an MA in Marketing which have proven to be of little worth. Its still "who" and not "what" you know.

  • rate this
    +2

    Comment number 239.

    Out of university 25 years ago I couldn t even find a job cleaning the streets. A little money from my grandmother and I baught a very small old house. Lived in it ate soup fixed it up and sold it and baught my next house and did the same. I haven t made a fortune. But I v survived and I have 10 studio apartments today and can live off that. Be independent I say.

  • rate this
    +9

    Comment number 95.

    Where does this myth come from that 'the UK doesn't make anything anymore'? One of my brothers works in a facory that makes kitchens, the other in a food factory. I know a great deal of our heavy industry was dismantled in the 80's however we do still produce things if you look around you. Try to 'buy British' where you can instead of buying stuff shipped in from overseas & support industry here.

  • rate this
    +5

    Comment number 91.

    I was lucky and was never un-employed.
    Spent 44 years in the Merchant Navy away from wife and children for 6-8 months each year working just before retirement 84 (yes 84) hour weeks 7 days 12 hours a day.
    Now retired with a good pension which I worked very hard for. My worry is that all pensions are linked to the stock market and if that collapses I end up with nothing. Isn't life just wonderful

  • rate this
    +10

    Comment number 52.

    these are all 'signs of the times'.. but if you live in a manner whereby your concience is clear and you are engaged in seeking how best to serve others then you need have no fear.. I love my job which is about finding ways to support the long-term unemployed into the workplace... we need more poeple looking out for those who are low in spirit and confidence to help them to get used to working

 

Comments 5 of 9

 

More Business stories

RSS

Features & Analysis

Elsewhere on BBC News

  • Confident woman and globeRelocation dream

    Four professionals explain why relocating abroad for work can often mean moving mountains

Programmes

  • Air Asia AirbusFast Track Watch

    Why business is soaring for Asia's airlines as Europe and the US face economic gloom

bbc.co.uk navigation

BBC © 2011 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.

This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.