What will our financial situation be in 2021? People with higher incomes are optimistic, lower income groups are more skeptical

People with higher incomes think that 2021 will be a good year for them financially. Those with a lower salary are more skeptical about whether they will reap any benefits of the economic recovery after Covid-19. This was shown in a study conducted by EenVandaag.

A survey questioned over 25,000 participants about their projection of the economy in 2021. Overall, seven in ten people (69 percent) think that 2021 will be a good year for them financially. This number is 87 percent among participants with higher incomes and 50 percent among those with a lower income.

For better or for worse?

In response to whether participants thought they would have more money to spend in the upcoming year, answers also differed. A quarter of the people with an above-average income expect their financial situation to improve in 2021. This was 15 percent among lower-income groups. Among that group, no less than 41 percent think that their situation will, in fact, deteriorate. That figure is considerably lower among high-income groups, namely 17 percent.

People with lower incomes expect, among other things, increased burdens from their municipality and other authorities in 2021. Some of them have already seen the announcements on their doormat. They also see costs, especially those of health insurance and energy bills, increase while their income remains the same. Or, in some cases, even decreases, for example, for older people who see pension cuts lurking.

Tough times for the national economy

What people from all income groups agree on is expectations for the Dutch economy. In total, more than four in ten expect that things will go well next year, compared to half of the respondents who foresee a bad year.

Respondents were even more pessimistic about the first six months of 2021. All income groups think that the economic situation will get worse in the first few months.

Entrepreneurs on government stimulus

The majority of entrepreneurs say that they are in a reasonably good financial position and expect that to continue in the upcoming year. A quarter of the entrepreneurs surveyed think that things will be better in 2021, and an equally large group fears that their company will be worse off next year. This figure is higher for entrepreneurs with employees. A third of them expect a worse year.

Twenty-five percent of employers say that government support is crucial to the survival of their company. Another quarter (27 percent) could use the extra help but do not consider it vital. Nearly half of the respondents (41 percent) say that they don’t need any support.

Confidence about job retention

Despite pessimism about the economy in general, almost all workers surveyed (92 percent) think they will keep their jobs in 2021. This is slightly lower among employees with a lower income (86 percent) than among people with higher wages (94 percent).