Tracking how we’re going – WA throughout COVID-19
May 20, 2020When COVID-19 started impacting the WA community, we adapted our People’s Voice survey to both monitor how West Aussies were feeling and what they most needed help with, and help businesses stay on top of the public’s fast changing attitudes and behaviours.
Since then, we’ve been tracking everything from what people are most worried about and their quality of life, all the way through to how much water they’ve been using and what fresh produce they’re buying – and one thing’s for sure…
A lot’s changed in the last few months!
When we started tracking, a lot of people were feeling extremely concerned about COVID-19 and the vast majority felt their household had been negatively impacted. While there’s no arguing it’s been a tough time for everyone and we’re not out of the woods yet, there’s signs that things are looking up and have been getting better week by week.
We’ve put together some interesting results from the last couple of months to show just how things have changed and to give a glimpse into what might be ahead. Have a read, and take a look at the charts below!
Life satisfaction is on the way back up, and concern about COVID-19 continues to fall
A little under two months ago, over half of West Australians said they were feeling very or extremely concerned about COVID-19. Each week that figure has dropped as people feel more and more confident about a way out, with just under 1 in 3 still feeling that level of concern.
At the same time, we’ve seen life satisfaction slowly rise again week by week. Just half felt satisfied with their life at week one, with that number now closer to two thirds! But there’s still a way to go, especially for younger people – 39% of 18-34 year-olds say they are currently dissatisfied with their life, compared to 21% of 35-54 year-olds and 16% of those over 55.
Positively, the proportion saying COVID-19 has had a negative impact on their household has fallen significantly from 84% at the start of tracking to 73% now – still a high number, but a notable shift in a relatively short time.
The economic impact of COVID-19 remains the greatest concern, and it’s still climbing
There’s a lot of things to be worried about during COVID-19. We asked West Australians each week what their biggest concern was, from the impact on their social life, mental health, physical health or personal finances, through to not feeling connected to their community or losing the ability to do what they want in life.
From the start, it was clear that the impact on the economy was the biggest concern, even greater than the physical health impacts of the virus itself. That hasn’t changed, and concern about the economy has steadily climbed as the top concern each week.
Starting at just under a quarter seven weeks ago, almost a third now say the economy is their greatest worry. And while it’s the top worry for all, it’s bothering older West Australians more. 40% of over 55s rated it as their top concern in week seven, compared to 27% of 18-34 year-olds and 29% of 35-54 year-olds.
While people’s concern about the economy goes up, concern over their physical health has slowly declined, with only a little over 1 in 10 now saying it’s their biggest concern. While this has fluctuated across the last seven weeks, it’s trending down. Similarly, we’ve seen concerns over mental health slowly but steadily trend downwards – 11% rated it their number one concern seven weeks ago, compared to 7% now.
The impact of COVID-19 on people’s social and love life has also been a very real concern for some. While it’s stayed steady at around 5% throughout tracking, it’s hitting young West Aussies disproportionately hard! At week seven, 11% of 18-29 year-olds rated the impact on their social and love life as their greatest concern, compared to 7% of 30-39 year-olds and only around 2% of all other age groups.
We’ll continue tracking these metrics and more over the coming weeks and months as Australia keeps fighting this thing. Make sure to stay tuned to see what we find!
The People’s Voice was designed to help anyone – businesses and individuals – ask questions and understand the thoughts and feelings of West Australians.
People’s Voice gives you the chance to ask both current and potential customers what their attitudes and opinions are towards your brand or products and have the ability track these as we navigate through these unprecedented changes in our world.
To find out more information about it and how you can get involved, visit the People’s Voice website: https://painteddogresearch.com/peoplesvoice/
