# How people weigh growth and inflation Canonical page: https://data.verasight.io/money/how-adults-weigh-growth-and-inflation/ Published: 2026-05-05 > Featured topic in Money & Finance. About 73% chose high inflation with a thriving economy over low inflation with recession, while 68% said finding an equal or better nearby residence would be at least somewhat difficult. ## Overview: Economic tradeoffs Adults prioritized avoiding recession in the forced economic tradeoff, but the broader economic evidence still showed pressure around housing and student-loan debt. About 73% chose high inflation with a thriving economy and low unemployment over low inflation with high unemployment and recession. Roughly 68% said finding an equal or better nearby residence would be at least somewhat difficult. ## Adults chose growth over recession About 73% chose high inflation with a thriving economy and low unemployment. Roughly 27% chose low inflation with high unemployment and a recession. The result does not mean adults were comfortable with inflation. It shows that when forced to choose between two bad economic packages, recession was the less acceptable outcome. ## Unemployment training drew broad support Roughly 74% favored the government spending more on education and training programs for the unemployed, even at the cost of reducing unemployment benefits. That includes 55% who were in favor and 19% who were strongly in favor. About 26% were against or strongly against the tradeoff. ## Housing still looked hard to replace Roughly 68% said finding a nearby residence as good as or better than their current one would be at least somewhat difficult. About 32% said it would not be difficult at all. Student-loan debt also read more as disadvantage than privilege. About 55% described people with student-loan debt as very or somewhat disadvantaged, while 45% described them as very or somewhat privileged. ## Supporting evidence ### 73% chose a thriving economy with high inflation over recession with low inflation. Question: If you had to choose between one of the two options, which would you select? 1) High inflation, but a thriving economy and low unemployment or 2) Low inflation, but high unemployment and a recession Note: Anchors the topic in the inflation and unemployment tradeoff. Topline: - High inflation/Thriving economy, low unemployment: 73.0% - Low inflation/Recession, high unemployment: 27.0% ### 68% said finding an equal or better nearby residence would be at least somewhat difficult. Question: If you had to move to a new residence in the same area as you currently live, how difficult would it be for you to find a new place to live as good or better than your current residence? Note: Adds housing-mobility pressure. Topline: - Somewhat difficult: 35.9% - Not difficult at all: 32.1% - Difficult: 16.3% - Extremely difficult: 15.7% ### 55% described people with student-loan debt as disadvantaged. Question: Relative to yourself, would you say that people with student loan debt are overall, as a group... Note: Adds perceived position of people with student-loan debt. Topline: - Somewhat Disadvantaged: 42.9% - Somewhat Privileged: 33.4% - Very Disadvantaged: 12.4% - Very Privileged: 11.3% ## Methodology - Mode: Verasight panel recruited via random address-based sampling, random person-to-person text messaging, and dynamic online targeting - Population: United States adults who completed both waves of the survey - Field dates: 2023-04-19 → 2023-04-27 - Base (unweighted): 1,000 - Margin of error: +/- 3.6% - Module: MPSA 2023 Omnibus Survey #2023-032 - Sponsor: Verasight - Weight variable: weight - Weighting targets: age, race/ethnicity, sex, income, education, region, metropolitan status ## Sources - [If you had to choose between one of the two options, which would you select? 1) High inflation, but a thriving economy and low unemployment or 2) Low inflation, but high unemployment and a recession](https://verasight-mpsa-2023.tiiny.co#q12-trade-off-between-inflation-and-unemployment): verasight-mpsa-2023.tiiny.co: Anchors the topic in the inflation and unemployment tradeoff. - [Would you be against or in favor of the government spending more on education and training programs for the unemployed at the cost of reducing unemployment benefits?](https://verasight-mpsa-2023.tiiny.co#q13-spending-on-education-and-training-programs-for-the-unemployed): verasight-mpsa-2023.tiiny.co: Adds a labor-market policy tradeoff. - [If you had to move to a new residence in the same area as you currently live, how difficult would it be for you to find a new place to live as good or better than your current residence?](https://verasight-mpsa-2023.tiiny.co#q24-moving-to-new-residence-in-the-same-area): verasight-mpsa-2023.tiiny.co: Adds housing-mobility pressure. - [Relative to yourself, would you say that people with student loan debt are overall, as a group...](https://verasight-mpsa-2023.tiiny.co#q31-people-with-student-loan-debt-are): verasight-mpsa-2023.tiiny.co: Adds perceived position of people with student-loan debt. ## Citation MPSA 2023 Omnibus Survey #2023-032, fielded April 19-27, 2023, N=1,000 United States adults who completed both waves of the survey, +/- 3.6%. Canonical question URL: [https://verasight-mpsa-2023.tiiny.co#q12-trade-off-between-inflation-and-unemployment](https://verasight-mpsa-2023.tiiny.co#q12-trade-off-between-inflation-and-unemployment)