Which professions do we trust now vs 28 years ago?

If you were asked what the most ethical and honest profession was, what would you say? If you were like the majority of Australians, you would say that nurses were – in fact, 92 per cent of Australians over 14 believe our generous nurses are leading the way, a great result considering yesterday was International Nurses Day. But what other professions do we trust easily or not at all? And how do these results compare to surveys conducted in 1987?

Unfortunately, survey respondents were not asked how they felt about nurses until 1994, when 84 per cent of the population believed they were the most ethical and honest professionals.

According to Roy Morgan Research, who conducted the survey last month, of all 30 professions surveyed a majority, 17, decreased in regard to ethics and honesty while 10 professions increased and only three professions were unchanged.

Gary Morgan from Roy Morgan said, “The biggest losers this year were Bank Managers 34% (down 9%), Accountants 45% (down 7%) – their lowest rating for over a decade since 2002 and Lawyers 31% (down 7%). Another big loser was Financial Planners 24% (down 4%) – now at their lowest ever rating for very high or high ‘ethics and honesty’ following a series of scandals in the industry.