Job losses due to the outbreak have happened the world over. Millions have been made unemployed or put on furlough, while the economic damage of the virus is continuing to build.

This is clearly reflected in our data – 49% of people have at least some concern about losing their job.This shows that even as lockdowns are eased and case numbers fall in some countries, job worries remain.

Moving to the country-level, all have respondents showing some concern but some countries have more than others.

Spain, China, and Italy stand out with 60%, 57%, and 57% of people concerned about losing their jobs respectively.

At the other end is the US with 43% of people reporting concern. Although it’s the lowest % in our list, this is still a huge amount of people.

Moving onto concerns about the economy, it’s evident that far more people see this as an issue.

Only 13% of people said they weren’t concerned at all about their country’s economy. Having said that, five weeks ago the number was at 10%. This suggests some confidence is returning to people.

There’s less variation between countries on concerns about the economy compared to concerns about job losses.

Germans are showing the most concern, with only 9% saying they’re not worried at all about the economy.

France and China sit at the other end, with 18% of people unconcerned. Whether this confidence will bear out is yet to be seen.

Away from economic matters, we also asked people about concerns about their own health.

A fifth of people weren’t worried at all, which to some might seem pretty high during a worldwide health crisis.

Going back to countries, it’s China where most people are worried. Even though the country has reported zero new cases for weeks, just 12% of respondents in China said they weren’t concerned about their health. People there are clearly still on their guard.

There’s a very different picture in Germany. Nearly a third (30%) of respondents there said they had no concern at all about their health in relation to Covid-19. That’s a lot of very confident people.

What the latest data shows is that many people see a long road ahead, and not one that’s safe. There’s also evidence of some dissonance, with far more people concerned about the economy than they are about their jobs. Overall, perhaps we’re more pessimistic about the bigger picture than the little ones we live in.

The same four walls

Home improvement has been an ongoing trend throughout the lockdown period. We’ve seen upticks in conversation around houseplants, DIY, home cinemas, and gardening, while Google search interest in home improvement has continued to grow since March.

Some new findings from Brandwatch Qriously give an insight into how consumers are thinking about improving and upgrading their homes in the long term.

As part of our recent report on whether Covid-19 has changed consumer behavior in the long term, we surveyed 6,915 people across Australia, France, Germany, Singapore, Spain, the UK, and the US via their mobile devices.

We found that, pre-Covid-19 outbreak, 18% of respondents planned to buy new furniture, 18% planned to do large scale home improvements, and 11% planned to buy a new house or apartment in 2020.

Now the outbreak has taken hold, around 60% of those who’d intended to do these activities still plan to in 2020.

This feels especially high, particularly when economic hardship and uncertainty will be big themes this year. But at the same time, there’s only so much of the same four walls you can take if they don’t make you happy. Just like lockdown has tested our relationships with those we live with, it also appears to have withered our patience for the places we live in.

Home improvement isn’t showing any sign of slowing down, even as ‘stay at home’ orders begin to ease.

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Thanks for reading

We’ll be back again next week. In the meantime, enjoy the weekend.

Stay safe,

Brandwatch Response Team