Survey Finds Long Term Pessimism

January 06, 2004 at 07:00 PM

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NU Online News Service, Jan. 6, 2004, 4:21 p.m. EST – Many U.S. residents are optimistic about their 2004 family income but pessimistic about the income of future generations, according to results of a survey released by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, Minneapolis.[@@]

When researchers at Harris Interactive Inc., Rochester, N.Y., interviewed 1,000 U.S. adults for Thrivent over the telephone in late 2003, they found that 51% of the participants predicted their total family income would increase in 2004. Only 10% predicted their total family income would drop.

But the researchers also found that only 35% of the participants think babies born this year will be better off financially when they reach the participant's age.

Older participants were especially gloomy: 44% of the participants between the ages of 18 and 44 said babies born this year would grow up to be better off, but only 27% of the participants between the ages of 50 and 64 shared that belief.

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