Recessions & Recoveries

Nearly seven-in-ten Americans say large banks and financial institutions have benefited the most from post-recession government policies.

In 2011, about 3 million U.S. children were living with and being primarily cared for by a grandparent.

A short history of the financial crisis that exploded five years ago, in one chart.

Americans have a pretty good sense of how well different aspects of the economy have -- and haven't -- recovered from the Great Recession.

Overview Five years after the U.S. economy faced its most serious crisis since the Great Depression, a majority of Americans (63%) say the nation’s economic system is no more secure today than it was before the 2008 market crash. Just a third (33%) think the system is more secure now than it was then. Large […]

The release of 2012 statistics on the U.S. birth rates indicates a flattening of the sharp decline in fertility that accompanied the Great Recession.

In the 2000s, poverty rose more in Republican congressional districts than in Democratic districts, though it's still more prevalent in Democratic districts.

In 2012, 36% of the nation’s young adults ages 18 to 31—the so-called Millennial generation—were living in their parents’ home, the highest share in at least four decades. The number of young adults doing so has risen by 3 million since the start of the start of the recession in 2007, an increase driven by a combination of economic, educational and cultural factors.

Despite modestly positive macroeconomic trends, many Americans feel lukewarm or worse about the economy. Five less-common indicators may help explain why.

As President Obama prepares to make a "major" speech on the economy today, our past reports describe the challenges the middle class has faced in the past decades.