India 'very optimistic' on employment prospects

Despite all the bad economic news around us, India is still seen as a good market for employment. The latest MasterCard Index of Consumer Confidence found that respondents in India were relatively more optimistic about employment prospects in the next six months, making it one of the top three countries in the Asia Pacific market.

It scored 80.6 (0 being most pessimistic and 100 most optimistic), behind only Indonesia and Myanmar that scored 86.3 and 96.8 respectively. India's position has been stable from the previous round of the survey. The survey was, however, conducted between April and May, before the precipitous decline in the rupee value against the dollar, and the negative news it generated.

IT hub Bangalore scored the highest with a complete 100, followed by Chennai with 99.1. Mumbai scored the lowest with 50.6, while Delhi's score was 83.4.

Those below 30 years were more optimistic as compared to those above it, with scores of 83.8 and 79.2 respectively. Additionally, women were slightly more optimistic with a score of 80.8, whereas men scored 80.4.

The MasterCard Index of Consumer Confidence is one of the most comprehensive and one of the longest running surveys of its kind in the region. "In June 1997, the Index revealed a decline in consumer confidence - one month prior to the devaluation of the Thai baht that triggered the regional economic crisis. In June 2003, the Index score for employment in Hong Kong dropped to a low score of 20.0. This was subsequently reflected in Hong Kong's unemployment rate, which peaked just before September 2003 at 8%," said MasterCard, which operates the global payments processing network that goes by the same name.

The latest index surveyed 12,205 qualified respondents aged 18-64 years in 27 countries. The sample is representative of the middle and upper income groups in each market, the company said. This is the 41st survey of Consumer Confidence conducted since 1993.


Keywords:bad economic news,good market ,employment, MasterCard Index , Consumer, optimistic , Asia Pacific market, dollar,,network