Yellow Box Leaves Macedonians Feeling Blue

45 per cent of respondents in the 'Global Barometer of Hope and Despair' poll said they have become increasingly worried about their job prospects over the course of the year.

Some 27 per cent said their worries about job and pay cuts remain unchanged while 24 per cent believe employment worries will ease in 2011.

30 per cent of the respondents believe that 2011 will be worse than 2010. 34 percent believe it will be unchanged while 30 percent are optimists.
 
Roughly 34 per cent say 2011 will be a year of economic hardship. 42 per cent  expect no changes while 21 per cent of respondents hope for the better.

This puts the country in what the pollsters call the  'Yellow Box' of countries with low GDP and low levels of hope together with Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania and Bosnia & Herzegovina from the Balkan Countries.

Only Kosovo, a country beset by worries over unemployment and corruption has paradoxically  made its way into the 'Green Box' of countries with high expectations for 2011 despite its low GDP.

Gallup highlight the shocking result that most of the wealthy countries in the world are in the so-called 'Red Group' with high GDP but little optimism for the forthcoming 12 months. All of the biggest EU countries are in this group.

Only the citizens of four states, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Switzerland find their way into the 'Violet Box' which combines both wealth and optimism for the future.

The survey questioned 1.213 people in Macedonia in the October-December period. The poll measures levels of optimism about personal well-being and the state of the economy in 52 countries worldwide.