American Workers Assess an Economic Disaster

Nearly three years into a devastating economic recession, American workers are deeply pessimistic about prospects for economic recovery. The majority believe that the nation’s economy has undergone a fundamental and lasting change, according to American Workers Assess an Economic Disaster, a new nationwide Work Trends survey from the Heldrich Center.

Some of the key findings of the national survey are:

• Nearly three in four (73%) Americans have been directly affected by a recession that is unprecedented in its length and severity.
• Nearly two in three of those surveyed expect the United States to still be in a recession next year; another 18% fear a depression is coming.
• More than half (56%) think the U.S. economy has undergone a fundamental and lasting change as opposed to a temporary downturn (43%).
• Fully 41% anticipate that the United States will be experiencing similar economic conditions a year from now while another quarter (27%) actually believes the economy will get worse before it gets better.
• Nearly 9 in 10 Americans (86%) who are still working express at least some concern about their job security; half of them report being very concerned.

Available are the full survey report and a press release.

The survey was fielded July 19 to August 6, 2010 online with a national probability sample of 818 U.S. residents age 18 or older through Knowledge Networks.