92 per cent of Australians aged 14 and over consider the nursing profession to be the most ethical and honest of professions, while those in the business of selling cars remain the least trusted.
These are the key findings of Roy Morgan’s annual Image of Professions survey, which paints a wide picture of the perception Australians hold with various professions.
The encouraging result seen for nursing marks the sector’s 21st year in a row up the top, a position it has held since it was first included in the survey back in 1994.
Professions on the positive end of the findings include Doctors (84 per cent), Pharmacists (84 per cent), School Teachers (78 per cent) and Engineers (74 per cent).
Interestingly, seventeen of the thirty professions included in the survey saw a drop in the ethics and honesty results, with Bank Mangers dropping 9 per cent to 34 per cent, Accountants dropping 7 per cent to 45 per cent, and Lawyers down 7 per cent to 31 per cent.
“Another big loser was Financial Planners 24 per cent (down 4 per cent) – now at their lowest ever rating for very high or high ‘ethics and honesty’ following a series of scandals in the industry,” Roy Morgan Research Executive Chairman Gary Morgan said.
“There is still no love for our politicians with State MPs 14 per cent (up 2 per cent) only marginally favoured ahead of Federal MPs 13 per cent (up 1 per cent), but both in front of only a handful of professions including Insurance Brokers 11 per cent (down 5 per cent), Real Estate Agents 9 per cent (unchanged), Advertising people 5 per cent (down 3 per cent) and right at the bottom of the heap – Car Salesmen 4 per cent (up 1 per cent) – a position they have held for over 30 years unchallenged as Australia’s least trusted profession.”
