How the public perceive professions in Australia - nurses at the top and car salesmen at the bottom

The issue of reputation, trust and ethics and the public's perception of various professions is always a  survey exercise which provides few surprises and, in practice, reinforces opinions commonly reflected in social situations. In this sense people actually do state what they think with little camouflage or sugar coating. Roy Morgan have released the latest survey results of the public's perception of the honesty and ethical standards of various professions - the survey has been an annual exercise since 1979. Car salesmen remain at the bottom of the survey, a position which has not changed once over the 30 years since the survey commenced. Nurses remain in the no 1 position which has remained unchanged since that profession was first added to the list, 19 years ago.

Respondents were asked: “As I say different occupations, could you please say — from what you know or have heard - which rating best describes how you, yourself, would rate or score people in various occupations for honesty and ethical standards (Very High, High, Average, Low, Very Low)?”

Roy Morgan Image of Professions Survey 2013

1	Nurses	2	Doctors
3	Pharmacists	4	Engineers
5	Teachers	6	Dentists
7	High Court Judges	8	Supreme Court Judges
9	Police	10	Univerity Lecturers
11	Accountants	12	Ministers of Religion
13	Bank Managers	14	Lawyers
15	Public Servants	16	Public opinion pollsters
17	Directors of Public Companies	18	Financial Planners
19	Business Executives	20	Newspaper journalists
21	TV reporters	22	Talk-back radio announcers
23	Stock brokers	24	Union leaders
25	Federal Members of Parliament	26	Insurance brokers
27	State Members of Parliament	28	Real Estate Agents
29	Advertising people	30	Car salesmen