30 Months Into the Recession, 48% of Adults Are Worse Off

It might seem like a given that in the last few years of economic crisis, more than half of the working adult population in the United States has been affected in one way or another by the global financial meltdown. What is at least marginally helpful, aside from knowing few of us are alone in this, is a breakdown of how and why the effects have been felt so far and wide. Taking stock of where we are now, 30 months into the Great Recession, the Pew Research Center released a report today that looks at spending and borrowing habits, which demographic groups have been the hardest hit, and peoples' hopes for the future of personal savings.

While nearly a third of adults in the labor force have been unemployed at some point during the recession, a rather frightening 55 percent of working adults say that they have been unemployed, taken a pay cut or a reduction in hours, or spent time working a part-time job they would otherwise have not needed to take if conditions were not so bad. Forty-eight percent of the survey participants said they are now in worse financial shape than they were three years ago, and 63 percent said it would take at least three years to regain the savings they had before the recession. Thirty-five percent of adults 62 and older have delayed retirement. And, 54 percent of adults felt that the recession was far from over, while 41 percent said things were only just now beginning to look up.

But, there's hope in bleak numbers, particularly when it comes to influencing future behavior. More than six in ten of the survey respondents (62 percent) said that they had cut back on both borrowing and spending, which could signal a more frugal lifestyle shift for many, even after the economy has recovered. Nearly one in three (31 percent) said they would continue to spend less even after the recession is over.

A bit ironically, the demographic groups hit hardest by the recession — "blacks, young adults and Democrats" — were more upbeat about economic recovery than their less affected white, middle-aged and Republican counterparts. For example, black and Hispanic workers have disproportionately high unemployment rates (15.5 and 12.4 percent, respectively). Maybe sometimes, when you know how hard you've been hit, there can't be anywhere to go but up.

Photo credit: dan taylor