National pride high in wake of recent visits

An IrishJobs.ie survey has revealed that the nation's pride is high, with people feeling significantly more positive following the recent visits of the Queen and US President Barack Obama. A total of 64 per cent believe that the visits will help the Irish economy while 19 per cent believed it would not. More than three-quarters of people in Ireland claim to feel proud of their country as a direct result of the recent visits. Levels of positivity have been clearly impacted with two-thirds of respondents claiming to be more positive following the visits of the Queen and US President Obama. A total of 30 per cent feel just the same and relatively positive at that. Valerie Sorohan, marketing manager with Saongroup.com and IrishJobs.ie, commented: "We know that people typically adapt to tougher circumstances over time but there is always a place for the boost given by extraordinary events and this is true of the recent state visits. Levels of happiness and positivity were already strong in the spirit of people's resilience here in Ireland but the nation's outlook is now more positive overall." IrishJobs.ie introduced a quarterly 'Positivity Index' for Ireland prior to the state visits, a measure of national wellbeing that is being driven by governments in countries such as the UK, Australia and China. A Positivity or Happiness Index measures happiness, satisfaction and optimism to create a psychological picture that represents the nation alongside typical economic measures. The Irish survey took into account key factors that affect happiness, such as people's support networks (relationships with family/friends), attitude to adversity, sense of control, and view of work, and found that happiness levels are in good shape in Ireland although less so in relation to work matters. IrishJobs.ie surveyed a sample of more than 1,000 people in association with Cut-e, a world leader in psychometrics. The Positivity Index for the second quarter this year shows resilience and strong levels of positivity, with 85 per cent of people in Ireland believing they can handle whatever should come their way and 70 per cent claiming they have a strong network of people in their lives they can count on. Over half (54 per cent) of all people surveyed are optimistic about life in general. A different picture emerges, however, when it comes to work or job-hunting where only 38 per cent of people surveyed by IrishJobs.ie feel happy with their job or job opportunities at this time. Some 58 per cent do not believe that they have control over their job or job opportunities. However, the ability to recover quickly and bounce back is again very evident with 70 per cent of people claiming to be able to handle setbacks in their work or job-hunting. Overall, women are happier than men and this may be related to the fact that women build stronger networks of family and friends around them. Men, on the other hand, are more optimistic about work and job opportunities. Male respondents are significantly more confident than women at handling setbacks in work or in the search for a job and also felt a lot more control over their job or job opportunities than women. Both employed and unemployed people, equally represented in the IrishJobs.ie Positivity Index, felt equally optimistic about their job or job opportunities but respondents who are currently unemployed were less likely to be optimistic about life in general. The IrishJobs.ie Positivity Index will be published quarterly. Positivity or happiness indices are being created in many countries across the globe, including France (led by Nicolas Sarkozy), the UK (led by David Cameron) and also Australia, Canada and China. The reasoning behind these indices is that by analyzing more than a nation's growth in relation to GDP, there is more of an opportunity to improve quality of life and wellbeing.