Compared to the previous month, the percentage of those who declare that they have reduced shopping for current consumption increased from 55% to 61%, according to the data of an IRSOP survey, sent on Monday morning.
The economic survey carried out by IRSOP in May 2026 – on a representative sample of 500 adults – provides an x-ray of the relationship between citizens and their future.
Precautionary saving – money set aside for contingencies – remains the 'investment' of choice for nearly half the population. Apparently prudent, this strategy has a vicious logic: money withdraws from circulation, production decreases, profits are compressed, wages follow. The economy of the prudent consumer may collectively be a contracting economy.
Prices, a collective obsession. For four consecutive months, more than three-quarters of respondents anticipated that prices would continue to rise. In May, the proportion rose to 78%. It is not a rational prediction about macroeconomic indicators, but a conviction sedimented by everyday experience: the shopping basket, the utility bill, the rent price. Elias Canetti observes, in Masses and Power, that inflation not only devalues currency, but also man. The individual feels devalued because the instrument he relied on – money – began to lose its value. At least two-thirds of consumers do not expect their incomes to keep up with this erosion.
The labor market, with no signs of recovery. Around a quarter of employees believe their job is at risk – a proportion that has increased from the previous month. Among them, 82% say that it would be difficult to find a new job in their locality. The fear of redundancy is not, in itself, a catastrophe; it becomes one when associated with a lack of alternatives. An employee who fears that he cannot find something else stays at his current job at all costs, accepts worse conditions, does not negotiate, does not migrate to more productive sectors.
Pessimism, short and long term. Perhaps the worst indicator in the survey: 73% of respondents believe that their standard of living will be less good in a year. Even at the five-year horizon – where, as a rule, people can still afford optimism – 52% anticipate a bleaker future. The leu is also viewed with suspicion: 60% expect the national currency to continue to depreciate.
There is a slightly paradoxical note: Five-year expectations improved marginally from April (from 45% to 52% pessimism, but with optimism jumping from 33% to 35%). It's a thin thread of long-term hope surrounded by immediate distrust.
IRSOP asked people what they think will happen to them in the next year. The test is simple: if most respond that they will be poorer, that their jobs are insecure and that prices will continue to rise, you are dealing with something more serious than a bad business cycle. You are dealing with a fracture in the relationship between citizens and their future.
See the IRSOP survey result here
