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Society panel

The society panel contains information about the population of the country you are ruling. Here yo ucan find such data like approval ratings of your cabinet, size of the whole population, information about social groups etc. To see a sample game screen with the society panel open, click here.

In the top half of the card you can find the values of following variables:

  • Approval rating - The approval rating of your government in the whole society.
  • Population - The total number of people.
  • Workforce - The number of people in production age.

Click the “chart button” on the left side of the variable's name to view a chart, that shows how the value of this variable changed during the last twelve months.

In the bottom half of the card you can find a table with information about social groups. Each group is characterized by the number of people and approval rating within this group. If you want to see more detailed information click the “details button” .

There are four social groups in “The economy, stupid!”. They differ in size, source of income and the tendency to organize demonstrations. Each group has its own approval rating of the government, so you can tell whether people in a group approve your course of action, or not. In most issues the groups share the same optics. For example, high income tax will make people in all social groups unhappy. The same applies to the unemployment rate and the inflation rate. On the other hand, a good condition of the public sector will make all people happy. The issue that is specific to each social group is income. For example, if the income of private sector employees rises, the approval ratings in this group will rise as well, but people from other groups will not react. The four social groups present in TES are listed below:

Private sector employees
People employed in private companies. Their wages depend on the condition of the economy. If production is high, and unemployment is low, wages in the private sector will be high. When the unemployment rate rises, the wages will fall. People in this group are preoccupied with their work and are not well organized, so they rarely organize their own demonstrations. They can, however, join other demonstrations.
Public sector employees
People employed in the public sector. This includes people working in the health care system, in law enforcement, in the military, in education etc. The wages of those people depend on the funding of the public sector, which, in turn, depends on a government policy. People in this group are quite well organized and have relatively strong labor unions. Thus they are quite prone to organizing demonstrations.
Unemployed
People who are able to work, but are not currently employed. People in this group get their income from unemployment benefits. The value of those benefits depends on a government policy. Since the unemployed have quite a lot of spare time and are often quite frustrated, they have a very high propensity to organize demonstrations.
Retired
People in this group get their income from retirement benefits. The value of those benefits depends on a government policy. This group may organize demonstrations, but is less eager to demonstrate than the unemployed.