Indians strongly believe in country's competitive spirit

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Monster India, online career and recruitment solutions provider, and GfK, an independent global market research company, today released new international survey data looking at how strongly people believe in their country's competitive spirit.

More than 8,000 respondents in seven countries were questioned, ‘In the face of an economic hardship, how would you rate your country's resilience/competitive spirit to arise from it?'

The results show that the Indians come second in the rankings of those most likely to say that their country would come back and be as competitive as ever, with only Canada edging India out for the lead:

1. Canada (43 per cent)

2. India (40 per cent)

3. United States (35 per cent)

4. Germany (26 per cent)

5. Netherlands (22 per cent)

6. United Kingdom (20 per cent)

7. France (7 per cent)

"The high confidence level in Indians depicted in Monster-GfK study is a reflection of various factors like growth of technology in the country, belief in their own entrepreneurial spirit, young work force, resilience in the economy, local Indian businesses competing at a global level, increase in risk taking capability and top in the league education system," said Sanjay Modi, MD, Monster.com (India/Middle East/South East Asia).

"Optimism is the greatest weapon a job seeker can possess as the search for better takes dedication and tenacity, so this positive attitude will serve workers well," added Modi.

Looking more closely at the findings, although two in five (40 per cent) Indians have a strong belief in their country's competitive spirit, the majority of the population actually don't feel entirely confident about their country's ability to completely bounce back from economic hardship: 38 per cent respondents think that India wouldn't be as competitive if it had to bounce back from hard times.

Age and pay influence optimism levels

The research reveals that India's young people are more confident than the older generations, with more than two in five (44 per cent) of those aged under-35 believing that India would come back and be as competitive as ever in the face of economic hardship. Comparatively, just over a third (36 per cent) of those aged 35-and-over were equally confident.

Income is also a factor in how confident people feel, with earnings directly correlating with belief in India's competiveness. Nearly two thirds (63 per cent) of high earners think India would bounce back from hard times, compared to just under half (46 per cent) of medium earners, and just a third (32 per cent) of those on low incomes.