Almost two-thirds (64%) of American adults think that the rate of inflation will rise to some extent this year, although that figure trails the global average of 69%, with those in Singapore, South Africa and Argentina the most pessimistic. That’s according to a report [pdf] from Ipsos, which examined attitudes to inflation and household spending across 36 countries as of November 2022.
While most feel that prices will rise, these expectations have cooled from earlier in 2022. For example, in April, roughly three-quarters of respondents in the US felt that the rate of inflation would increase in the coming year.
As of the latest survey, just one-quarter of US adults feel that their disposable income will rise to some extent over the coming year, with that figure up only slightly from April.
That is likely because people continue to expect higher prices on the horizon. Within the US, 72% of respondents expected the cost of their food shopping to increase in the 6 months following the survey, while 68% felt the same about the cost of their utilities and 66% about the costs of their other household shopping.
Groceries have been a particularly thorny matter in the US, where they have been the primary concern regarding price inflation; recent research found 72% of US adults to be very concerned about inflation specifically in the grocery category.
Meanwhile, almost 6 in 10 adults in the US expect the overall cost of going out socializing (such as at the cinema, cafes, restaurants, pubs, clubs, etc.) to rise, though fewer than half (46%) think the same about the overall cost of their subscriptions, whether to Netflix, or a gym membership. Notably, subscriptions are one of the key areas in which US consumers are cutting back in response to inflation.
Encouragingly, fewer respondents in the US as of this latest survey expect rises in the costs of food, fuel costs, and other household shopping than felt that way earlier in 2022. Nonetheless, with most expecting some price inflation in the months ahead, marketers will need adapt their strategies to confront these concerns.
Check out the full survey results here [pdf].
About the Data: The results are based on a 36-country survey conducted October to November among 24,471 adults ages 16-74, including roughly 1,000 ages 18-74 in the US.
