pewsocialtrends.org | Money

One Recession, Two Americas

Fri, 24 Sep 2010 00:00:00 EST

The Great Recession has divided America into two groups that are roughly the same size but that experienced very different economic downturns. For a narrow majority of Americans (55%), the Great Recession brought a mix of hardships, usually in combination: a spell of unemployment, missed mortgage or rent payments, shrinking paychecks and shattered household budgets, according to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center�s Social & Demographic Trends project. But for the other 45% of the country, the recession was largely free of such difficulties

Walking Away

Wed, 15 Sep 2010 00:00:00 EST

Nearly six-in-ten Americans (59%) say it is �unacceptable� for homeowners to stop making their mortgage payments, according to a Pew Research Center survey. But more than a third say the practice of �walking away� from a home mortgage is acceptable, at least under certain circumstances. Homeowners whose home values declined during the recession are more likely to say that �walking away� from a mortgage is acceptable. So do those who were unemployed or experienced other types of financial problems during the recession.

Since the Start of the Great Recession, More Children Raised by Grandparents

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 00:00:00 EST

One child in ten in the United States lives with a grandparent, a share that increased slowly and steadily over the past decade before rising sharply from 2007 to 2008, the first year of the Great Recession.

Back at Work, But...

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 00:00:00 EST

Workers who suffered a spell of unemployment during the recession are, on average, less satisfied with their new jobs than workers who didn�t. These re-employed workers also are more likely to consider themselves over-qualified for their current position. And six-in-ten say they changed careers or seriously thought about it while they were unemployed.

Lost Income, Lost Friends - and Loss of Self- respect

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 00:00:00 EST

Long term unemployment takes a heavy toll not just on people�s finances, but also on their emotional well-being and career prospects, according to a new Pew Research Center survey of workers who have lost jobs since the Great Recession began in December 2007. The long-term unemployed are more likely than the short-term unemployed to have lost income, lost contact with close friends, suffered strains in family relations, lost some self-respect and lost confidence in their career prospects.

How the Great Recession Has Changed Life in America

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 00:00:00 EST

Of the 13 recessions that the American public has endured since the Great Depression of 1929-33, none has presented a more punishing combination of length, breadth and depth than this one.

U.S. Birth Rate Decline Linked to Recession

Tue, 06 Apr 2010 00:00:00 EST

There is a strong association between the magnitude of fertility change in 2008 across states and key economic indicators including changes in per capita income, housing prices and share of the working-age population that is employed across states.

Home for the Holidays... and Every Other Day

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

The journey home for Thanksgiving won't be quite so far this year for many young adults. Instead of traveling across country or across town, many grown sons and daughters will be coming to dinner from their old bedroom down the hall, which now doubles as their recession-era refuge.

The Harried Life of the Working Mother

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST

Women now make up almost half of the U.S. labor force, up from 38% in 1970. The public approves of this trend, but the change has come with a cost for many women -� particularly working mothers of young children, who feel the tug of family responsibility much more acutely than do working fathers, according to a Pew Social & Demographic Trends nationwide survey. Most working moms would prefer to work part time, but relatively few do. About four in ten working moms say they always feel rushed, compared with about a quarter of working dads and stay-at-home moms.

Black-White Conflict Isn�t Society's Largest

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST

It may surprise anyone who has been following the charges of racism that have flared up during the debate over President Obama�s health care proposals, but the American public doesn�t see race as the source of the strongest social conflict in the country today. That dubious distinction belongs instead to conflicts between immigrants and the native born, and also to conflicts between rich people and poor people.