Greater interest in biz topics
July 22, 2015
Young Germans aged 14 to 24 have taken a bigger interest in business affairs in recent years again, with roughly a third of those polled saying economic topics have been of great importance to them.
GfK market researchers, who compiled the study on behalf of the Association of German Banks, said Wednesday that was a marked improvement on 2012 when only 22 percent of respondents stated they were interested in economic matters.
"Back then we felt the impact of the global financial crisis, with the very complex and negative news tending to discourage young people from dealing with economic issues," the managing director of the association, Michael Kemmer, said in a statement.
No more groping in the dark?
But although that development had now been reversed, young people's knowledge of business aspects remained unsatisfactorily low, Kemmer argued, with four out of 10 respondents admitting their knowledge was extremely poor.
He added he was all the more pleased to see more and more youths in Germany calling for a separate subject in school dealing with the economy. In fact, no fewer than 73 percent of those polled voiced their backing for such a subject.
"Young people have to be put in a position to take responsible consumer decisions, also as far banking issues are concerned," Kemmer stated.