“Clearly, even though unemployment is falling and growth is returning after the financial
crisis, this pessimism raises questions about whether this is a temporary phenomenon.”
The Pew Research Center, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank, surveyed people in 32 countries this year and found
that overall sentiment about the current economic situation had rebounded sharply from postrecession lows.
“Even in advanced economies where people think they are doing well, like Germany, the Netherlands
and Sweden, they are worried about their kids’ financial prospects,” said Bruce Stokes, director of global economic attitudes at Pew.
In France, more than 70 percent of respondents said they doubted
that their children would be better off financially, with a similarly bleak outlook reported in Britain, Spain, Italy and Germany.
In Britain, where voters shocked political leaders at home
and abroad last June by voting to exit the European Union, 51 percent approve of the state of the economy, a figure nearly unchanged from 2015, while 24 percent think the next generation would do better.
Still, even in Germany, only 36 percent think their children will be better off; the figure in France is 9 percent.
“We in the West have always thought the future would be better, and we invested in it and saved for it,” Mr. Stokes said.
Western Nations Worry That Children Won’t Be Better Off -
By NELSON D. SCHWARTZJUNE 5, 2017
The present is getting better.