Wednesday November 10, 2021
RTL / ntv trend barometer
Only a minority fears climate job losses
In a Forsa survey commissioned by RTL and ntv, a majority of Germans are skeptical about climate policy. The greater part of the respondents do not trust politicians to phase out coal earlier. On the other hand, one is almost surprisingly relaxed when it comes to the job market.
Should there be a traffic light coalition, the SPD, FDP and, above all, the Greens would still have to do persuasive work in terms of climate targets. According to a Forsa survey, a large proportion of those surveyed do not expect a coal phase-out as early as 2030 instead of eight years later. On the other hand, the restructuring of the economy does not seem to worry the great majority. Almost two thirds of those surveyed do not believe that the bottom line is that jobs will be lost.
Of the 1004 respondents last week, only 21 percent assume that the coal phase-out will succeed by 2030. The three parties have decided to do this because the Greens in particular consider the previous exit date of 2038 to be insufficient. 74 percent think it will take longer. In the east, skepticism (87 percent) is even higher than in the west (72 percent). Belief in achieving the goal decreases with age. Among the 14 to 29 year olds, 36 percent say that Germany will be able to get by without coal from 2030 onwards. Only 17 percent of those who are 60 and older can imagine that.
Among the supporters of the various parties, optimism is greatest among voters from the Greens (39 percent), the Left (36 percent) and the SPD (33 percent) – but there is no majority in any party. Only in the AfD electorate (8 percent) believe even less in the early coal exit than the FDP supporters (15 percent). In the Union it is 24 percent.
Little fear of work
As far as the labor market is concerned, 61 percent of those surveyed assume that the bottom line is that there will be no job losses (45 percent). 16 percent even believe that in the end there will be more new jobs than old ones will be lost. On the other hand, 35 percent expect that more jobs will be lost than new ones will be created.
East Germans (48 percent), workers and almost all AfD supporters (87 percent) believe that more jobs are lost than new ones are created through climate protection measures. The under-30s, supporters of the Left Party and, above all, the Greens (47 percent) believe that more new jobs are created than lost. The bottom line is that only three percent of the voters of the Greens fear job losses.