Karachi: Nearly two-thirds (64%) of emerging affluent consumers in Pakistan are experiencing upward social mobility, a new Standard Chartered study shows. Of these, 11% are enjoying ‘supercharged’* social mobility, not just relative to the previous generation, but compared to the rest of the socially mobile.
The Emerging Affluent Study 2018 – Climbing the Prosperity Ladder – examines the views of 11,000 emerging affluent consumers – individuals who are earning enough to save and invest – from 11 markets across Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The average figure for social mobility among the emerging affluent across the markets in the study is 59%, and of these 7% are experiencing supercharged social mobility.
Pakistan’s socially mobile, as identified by the study, have had impressive earnings growth, with almost half (44%) enjoying a salary increase of 10% or more in the past year, and more than a third (34%) seeing their earnings jump by 50% or more in the past five years.
In Pakistan the socially mobile in the study are also better educated and achieving higher levels of employment and home ownership than their parents. 89% went to university, compared to 66% of their fathers and less than half (49%) of their mothers; and 83% are in management positions or running their own businesses compared to 65% of their fathers and 28% of their mothers. 88% of the socially mobile own their own home, compared to 81% of their parents at the same age.
Levels of optimism among the emerging affluent in Pakistan are even higher than the reality, with 79% believing they are in a better financial position than their parents compared to the 64% in the study that are actually socially mobile.
