Better employment and higher salaries go hand in hand with education, according to three-quarters of online respondents to a Nielsen global survey. Respondents in India, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and China were among those that felt most strongly about the link between education and career success. High percentages of respondents in Latin America also agreed that better jobs and higher incomes were available because of educational opportunities, with consumers in Chile, Brazil, Peru and Venezuela reporting above the global average.
The Nielsen Global Survey of Education Aspirations polled more than 29,000 Internet respondents in 58 countries to measure consumer sentiment on the availability of educational opportunities at all levels of study and the resulting opportunity for job and salary advancement.
While one-fourth of global respondents did not believe that better employment (25%) or higher salaries (28%) were linked to education, the results of the survey did highlight a strong correlation between Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index scores—which measures perceptions of job prospects, personal finances and spending ability—and perceptions for advancement opportunities.
Respondents in countries where consumer confidence scores were at 95 or above (scores over 100 show economic optimism) showed the highest percent agreement that better employment and higher income were available because of education attainment. Likewise, respondents in countries where consumer confidence scores were below 70 showed the most pessimism that education would lead to better jobs and salaries.
Other findings include:
For more detail and insight, download Nielsen’s Education Aspirations report.
The Nielsen Global Survey on Education Attainment was conducted between Feb. 18 and March 8, 2013 and polled more than 29,000 online consumers in 58 countries throughout Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and North America. The sample has quotas based on age and sex for each country based on their Internet users, and is weighted to be representative of Internet consumers and has a maximum margin of error of ±0.6%. This Nielsen survey is based on the behavior of respondents with online access only. Internet penetration rates vary by country. Nielsen uses a minimum reporting standard of 60 percent Internet penetration or 10 million online population for survey inclusion. The Nielsen Global Survey, which includes the Global Consumer Confidence Index, was established in 2005.