Labor & Employment Law

Study: Recession Has Hit More than Half of Us

By James Parks

Since the recession began 30 months ago, more than half of all adults in the workforce?55 percent?say that they have either been unemployed, taken a pay cut, had their work hours reduced or have become involuntary part-time workers, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center’s Social and Demographic Trends Project.

The survey shows the impact of the recession goes far beyond the 9.5 percent of the workforce that is unemployed and the 16.5 percent underemployed. About a third of respondents?32 percent?said they have been unemployed for some period of time during the recession.

The prolonged recession?the longest in recent history?has left a big mark on the country, Paul Taylor, the Pew project director, told ABC News:

What this report demonstrates is the breadth and depth of the impact of this recession on the American public. It’s hit almost everybody in one way or another, and two and a half years after it began, people are still feeling the effects. This is still very much with us.

The survey points to the immediate need for action to create jobs and stem the economic hemorrhaging. But Republicans in Congress have refused to act to create jobs, stop layoffs and help the jobless. Writing today on Huffington Post, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says we need a job-centered approach to strengthening the economy. Read Trumka?s Huffington Post column ?Jobs Should Come First? here.

Here?s even more evidence from the Pew survey that action is needed: About half of Americans said their household’s current financial situation is worse now than before the recession, and many see a long road to recovery, with 63 percent predicting that it will take them at least three years to recover financially.

The survey also found that the recession has caused consumers to spend and borrow less and lowered their expectations about their retirements and their children’s future. More than a quarter of Americans say their children will have a worse standard of living than they now have, compared to just 10 percent a decade ago.

A third of adults now say they are not confident they will have enough income for a secure retirement. Among adults 62 and older who are still working, a third say they have already delayed retirement because of the recession. And among workers in their 50s, about six in10 say they may have to do the same. 

Click here to read the full report on the survey.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on July 02, 2010 (boomark / email).