Its ‘Back to School’ week. I find myself reminiscing about the summer and prospect of a new start. Now my school years are gone will the prospect of an improved economy be something to look forward to….
Much has changed over the summer in our monthly tracking of how we’re coping in the economy.
For the second month in a row we have seen that the number of people who expect the economy to get better in the next year is greater than the number of people who expect it to get worse – which is a first for quite a long time.
Cost of living looms over us
This month, 31% expect the economy to improve in the next year, up from 21% in September 2012. Is this just a summer blip, or has recent positive economic news given us a boost?
But at the same time, the rising cost of living looms over us and doesn’t look like it’s shifting any time soon. Around three quarters of us are worried about the cost of energy, fuel and food and half of us have housing costs on our mind – like paying the rent or mortgage repayments.
And it’s not just schools that are back. MPs are back in Parliament and gearing up for the party conference season. We asked MPs about which industries they trusted to act in your best interests.
Even MPs lack trust in the banks
Perhaps it is the likely suspects that come bottom of both MPs’ and our trust levels. Just 30% of MPs and 33% of us say that we trust the banking industry to act in our best interest. Just 21% of MPs and 23% of the general public trust the energy sector to act in our best interest. I was also interested to see that mobile phone companies rank near the bottom on trust too – with just 31% of both MPs and consumers saying we trust mobile phone providers to act in consumers’ interest.
While the summer has brought greater optimism towards the economy, rising prices have meant that the cost of living remains at the top of our agenda. And our everyday essentials services – like banking and energy – are not making it any easier for us.
So what does the next year have in store for us and will we see improvement to the cost of living? We want to see the issue taken seriously and ensure we pay fair prices for our everyday needs. Do you think the economic optimism will last or are you worried about how you’ll cope in the year ahead?