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Confidence In The Educational System Lacking: Results From The LinkedIn Q3 Economic Confidence Outlook

Executive sentiment about the global economy’s future went from mixed in Q2 to almost universally declining in our Q3 LinkedIn Economic Confidence Outlook. Even Indian executives, who retained the highest level of optimism and who are optimistic about the Indian economy, declined in their optimism about the global economy by 10 percentage points to 61%.

This quarter we added a new question on education. Specifically, we asked executives whether they felt confident that their country's educational system is preparing students for successful careers. Only Switzerland showed high confidence levels in the educational system with 73% of respondents saying that they are confident in the country's educational system, with the majority of other countries expressing low levels of confidence in their country's educational system.

Read on for the full results of the Q3 LinkedIn Economic Confidence Outlook survey of more than 13,000 senior business leaders on LinkedIn, including global optimism, optimism by country, and hiring expectations by country.

Executives’ views of the next generation

Based on the executives’ answers, countries like Switzerland, the Netherlands, India, Canada, Germany and Belgium seem to be doing the best job preparing students. Countries like Brazil, Japan, Spain and Italy appear to lag behind in the eyes of executives in those countries.

Education optimisim chart

Global economic optimism among executives trends downward

Executives in almost all of the major economies around the globe are feeling less optimistic about the global economy getting better than they did a quarter ago. This retreat in sentiment could signal a change in how these executives approach their business decisions in the near term.

Percentage Expecting Global Economy Improvement Q3 2014

Optimism towards India’s economy continues after the first 100 days

The post-election business euphoria has yet to wear off among business executives working in India. Based on their responses, they remain bullish on the near term economic outlook for India’s economy. India is among the few countries bucking the negative trend shown in other countries.

India Optimism About Countrys Economy Q3 2014

Full results for the Q3 2014 LinkedIn Economic Confidence Outlook are included below, along with individual breakouts for each country represented in the survey:

Watch for our next LinkedIn Economic Confidence Outlook in the fourth quarter of 2014. In the meantime, follow the Economic Graph Showcase Page for continuing coverage of issues impacting the global economy.

About the LinkedIn Economic Confidence Outlook

Each quarter, LinkedIn taps more than 13,000 senior business leaders from among its membership of more than 300 million professionals around the world from nearly every major industry and job level. We ask them a series of questions designed to elicit perspectives on where their national economy and the global economy is headed in the near future.

About The Data

The survey was conducted in September 2014 of LinkedIn members director-level and above. Responding executives were located in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These countries represent almost two-thirds of global economic output.