The irrepressible optimism of the Aussie banker

Bankers around the globe are apprehensive about losing their jobs. Not in Australia.

We asked people visiting our sites to rate their chances of involuntarily losing their job in the next 24 months on a scale ranging from "negligible" through to "very high".

Almost half of Aussies polled - 49% - said that their chances of being shown the door before mid-2009 were "low" or "negligible". In Asia, Europe and the Middle East, an average of only 30% were equally upbeat about their job prospects.

Are Sydney and Melbourne's finest endowed with naturally positive dispositions, or will the Australian job market prove abnormally immune to a financial services downturn? We may not need to wait 24 months to find out.